The Tales Of The Lost Shinobi
by yorushihe
Summary: Inuyasha/Naruto Xover. Sasuke, wanting to rid the world of his older brother, used Itachi as a target to his developed sharingan, thus, sending Itachi to another dimention... Where our Uchiha boy will have to face more than one demon language/gore/blood
1. 1: To a new world

AN: Hello! I know I shouldn't be starting any other story, but this little piece was carving holes in my mind, so I had to do it! Ah, the chapters will be short, and I have it all planned already.  
Hah! There were so many spelling errors because I wasn't using a spell-check program T.T You know when you type fast as to not lose the idea, and then your eyes are blind to your own mistakes? Well.. I'm like that… I need a spelling wizard to help me! GAH! Hopeless I say!  
Now you can rest, for I reviewed this chapter like a monkey hunting for peas to eat! ;)

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Sasuke uses the Mangekyou to erase Itachi's existence, but end up tossing his older brother into another dimension...

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

-Itachi's PoV-

1:** To a new World.**

Uchiha Itachi grunted lowly. His face an impassive mask of calm, though, if you knew how to read him just right, you'd have noticed the slight narrowing of his eyes, and known he was strained somehow.

In this case, it was _emotionally_ and _physically_strained.

Blood red eyes closed, as their owner tried to breath out the exhaustion running through his body. Itachi only felt mildly annoyed, considering the situation at hand. But life as a shinobi - and an S Class wanted criminal - hardened his perception of life just a little bit.

Enough to make easy of what happened to him.

Not an _easy_ task, mind you.

Thin, nimble, deceptionantly delicate fingers trailed lightly over the stone wall that Itachi found himself surrounded of. It looked like some sort of dried up well, with vines crawling between the rocks, and the muddy ground he regretfully had his feet on. At least he was on his feet... Itachi finished his evaluation of his surroundings by tilting his head and looking up. By the amount of light finding its way to where he stood, and by the lack of noise - human noise that is - that the well he was found currently in, was somewhere in an open field, with some variants of wild life - like a forest - around, and clearly forgotten.

Also, by the obvious _lack_ of murdering intent directed to his person, he came to the conclusion that he was far, far, FAR away from  
Sasuke... and the battle he had with Sasuke...

His sharp mind working overdrive to make some sense of his situation, and joining the pieces of this puzzle together, it took all of his ex-ANBU-captain-S-class-ranked-criminal-belonging-to-Akatsuki to hold in the gasp that rose to his throat. It was fairly simple once he managed to see the bigger picture. Really.

He had been fighting his younger brother, Sasuke. It was looking promising, what with Sasuke cornering him and dealing all those dangerous looking jutsus to see him dead - which was what he wanted, to be fair - and when Itachi crumpled all of his little brother's attempts on his life, Sasuke got desperate and from out of no-freaking-where pulled out a Mangekyou Sharingan... and the last thing Itachi knew was the snarled cry Sasuke gave - "DIE!" - And then sweet oblivion.

Until he woke up inside this (_mud-filled_) well.

Sasuke used the Mangekyou's dimension-warp jutsu on him!

Itachi's left brow twitched a fraction.

He now knew he was thrown by his o-so lovely younger sibling in a completely strange, potentially _deadly_, dimension.

He hoped Madara would **rot** in hell because of this.

Opening his now normal, Sharingan-less black-as-soot eyes, Itachi found he needed to attend to more pressing matters, such as if he still could use his chakra. All his life-threatening wounds would have to wait for now - at least most of them have stopped bleeding - if this dimension were to be somehow hostile, then he would surely need his chakra. But things looked promising, since he could feel the low hum of energy cursing through his body, curling around his eyes like a fisherman net, and responding to his will when he summoned a small bit of it to his hands.

Whit a satisfied nod, Itachi saw the calm blue swirling of his chakra cover his hand. He felt safer, for now, he had to get out of this well, because if the sun's position was any indication, it was approaching mid morning.

Sending a burst of chakra to his feet and hands, Itachi started to crawl up the well's stony wall. Not very dignified for his esteemed clan name - note the small dose of sarcasm - but there was no way he would fit this small hole if his body was horizontal. Plus this position affected less the few burns Sasuke, for some kind of fortune - or lack of it in Itachi's case - landed on him with that Hatake's corny-named jutsu - Chidori Nagashi - Sasuke's personal brand.

Aside the burns scattered all over his body, there were that shallow cut on his cheek, the most mellow of his wounds, the hole in his stomach for when Sasuke insisted on introducing his intestines to his Chidori-covered fists, and the lacerations from when he was thrown across the ground by that giant maniac pet-summon-snake, Manda. Ah, loveliness of taking a bash from his baby brother, who couldn't even throw kunai properly without cutting his own fingers a few years ago - and now was all about summoning hell-snakes to eat and/or poison his older brother.

Not that Itachi left Sasuke off so easily also. He was sure he had tormented his brother's mind enough to make the boy a certified raging lunatic, with so many mental and physical scars... He may or may not have unleashed a Tsukiyomi on Sasuke... and a Katon justsu or two or three... and some B-to-S-class-forbidden-jutsu...

They were even then. So now all that he had to do was make sure Madara rotted in hell for everything he's done.

Itachi was out of his musings about why he had severe internal bleeding, when the sun kissed his face for the first time for what felt like years. The comforting heat baking his cheeks and forehead, and he had to blink away the black dancing dots on his visage. He guessed the blood loss was coming up to him now. He had reached the well's lips, and heaved his body out of it. His limbs were starting to feel like they were made of lead, and with the last of his strength, Itachi scouted the area with a small chakra burst.

Finding nothing, the twenty years old fell into oblivion once again. Not knowing if he should hope to somehow wake up again, or die of blood loss during his... sleep. He had no reason to keep living, after all...

XxxxXxxxX

There, first chapter done! :D If you like it, please review! x)


	2. 2: Waking up

AN: Something I forgot to mention. It will be slightly AU for Inuyasha... nothing major, and you will notice it. And the same goes to Narutoverse… well… there were some things that scared my poor fan girl heart to death when I saw Itachi/Sasuke's fight… Like Itachi's maniac ramblings and all…  
So if you see dear Itachi acting OoC, blame my trauma.  
**  
Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Itachi wakes up and meet his savior.

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

2: **Waking up.**

The first thing that registered to him was pain. _Lots _and _lots _of abnormally-excruciating _pain _coming through all over his body. As a passing, idle thought, Itachi wondered if it was possible to be dead and feel as much pain as he was feeling now. With no surprise on his part, most of the pain was coming from his stomach, where his worst injury was located. Not that Itachi was a novice to such soul-wavering kill-me-please pain. He felt it before and undoubtly will feel it again in the future - if he survived now - but it made hard to breathe having his muscles contract every time a wave of pain came. His skin pulled every time his diaphragm contracted into a muted scream, making the burns sting, just adding to his pan. O-sweet-stir-soup of Karma this pan is full of...

"Shhhhh" The calm, sweet, comforting voice was the second thing that registered to his fevered mind. "Easy your breathing now, I've taken care of your wound" the voice lulled his kill-it-before-it-kills-you shinobi senses, like a gentle caress on his battered soul. A whip of light now came through his closed eyes, and a soft flowery scent wafted to his nose.

"Has he awoken yet, Kagome-sama?" A male voice questioned. Itachi noticed that the voice was muted, as of it came from the other side of a room or just outside of it. He was already making a picture of his where-about, including the ones he felt around him.

So far his limited perception allowed him to know that he was inside a house, probably wooden, with a female hovering over him and another unidentified presence near their location, by their breathing. There was the other male he heard, but for now he was focusing on his immediate surroundings.

"I don't think so..." The female, Kagome, replied to the question. Itachi made sure to control his breathing pattern and his heart rate as to appear still asleep. Controlling a start, he noticed that the pain was slowly receding from his being, as if it was only a passing stormy cloud, and now was going away. "Though he was trashing about just now" The far away male Hmm'ed thoughtfully.

"That was a nasty one, wasn't it? I wonder how he can still be alive after losing so much blood..." This time, the other person in the room commented. It was another female.

"He looks pretty strong" He felt a butterfly touch to his cheek, the one with the slash, and waited for the sting that would come from her fingers making contact with his wounded skin. But nothing came... instead he felt the warm rush of something entering his own awareness of his body. Like when a medic-nin was healing, their chakra entered their patient and stimulated tissue growth. This touch though... it felt nothing like chakra... it was like having his spirit washed with clear, fresh water, and the outcome was his complete purification.

She - Kagome - was healing him, with something similar-to-but-not chakra. For some reason, a scream locked in his throat, as a new wave of pain wafted and coursed through his body, making his muscles jerk painfully and at an obvious odd angle.

"Kagome!" The other woman worriedly called to his care-taker. He couldn't hold in anymore, Sharingan-blaring eyes opened as if with a snap, and his vision was floored with the image of a young girl, possibly a little older than his brother, with jet-black hair and huge, water-like blue eyes.

"Oh Kami! I am so sorry!" Kagome had her face twisted into a worried expression. Itachi could read - and crush - her easily though, it was clear she had no shinobi training, for when her blue eyes connected with his pulsing red ones, the girl's eyes widened comically.

For a second, Itachi thought she was going to scream in fright at the sight of the Sharingan. She ought to know that the last of Sharingan-users were him or Sasuke, neither one exactly welcome... but then it came back that he wasn't at his dimension anymore, and there was a shot that she wouldn't even know what a shinobi was.

But then again, he could understand her just fine...

Was he really right about his Mangekyou-dimension-warp jutsu?

Internally at war with himself, but keeping half a mind at Kagome's movement, he caught on when the girl bowed her head - he was laying on a futon on the floor and she was kneeling at his side - and started to mutter a string of excuses.

"I am really sorry! I should have known that my powers would affect you! But I thought they wouldn't since your blood is so diluted..." Itachi's blood-limit also got the other's woman movement. She had walked to stand beside Kagome, and was now staring at him suspiciously. She was older than Kagome, that was clear enough, had long dark hair and brown eyes, with a bit of pink eye-shadow.

The pain was receding again, he noted with a bit of curiosity.

"Sango-chan! Kagome-sama!" The male came bursting inside their hut - wooden hut, Itachi accessed his skills were still in order - looking frantic. He had long dark brown hair, locked in a pony-tail, and interesting purple eyes, though, his face was common. He was staring at the two females with confusion.

"I was healing him, but I think I might have hurt him a little..." Kagome muttered regretfully. Itachi wasn't blaming her though, if she was the one who saved his life... better totally healed than having his parts sewn back together by Kakuzu...

"Well, you did know he _have _demon blood, as diluted as it is..." The male said pointedly, staring at Itachi for the first time since he entered the hut. Soon his words clicked and Itachi felt intrigued... what did they mean by 'demon blood'? "Look at his eyes, Kagome-sama" the male ordered gently, not at all perturbed by the pair of blood red eyes with twirling black commas settled on his person. He heard Kagome gasp.

"Oh!" The girl deflated slightly. Itachi had his curiosity spiked by now - these strange people saved his life - this dimension seemed to have some very different reality than the one he came from... not that he was surprised - only _mildly_ interested. "I'm really sorry..." Kagome had her pair of blue eyes on him, and Itachi decided to be polite with the girl, he had nothing to lose, really.

First he tried to shift his limbs, by the stiffness he felt, he wagered that his body was covered with bandages. Pulling on his chakra control, he made it circle and search his body just to be sure. Almost all of his wounds have been taken care of, aside from the one in his stomach, as it was clearly too deep and too jagged. But these people - mainly, he thought, Kagome - have made a good job out of trying to heal it, as it was now half way closed.

Preparing himself for the assault of pain, Itachi forced himself to a sitting position. Knowing he had limited movement for the time being - until he was healed enough to stand up without this life-shattering pain - he better get used to being bed-ridden. With his chakra's help, it wouldn't be too long. As soon as he twitched his back's muscle tissue, a wave of pain almost made him flinch. Keeping his expression blank, he sat up - with a bit of struggle and ignoring Kagome's cries for him to lie down - and could finally stare more levelly the people inside this room.

The first one was Kagome, as she was nearest.

"Itachi..." He muttered slowly and lowly. His voice raspy. Kagome hastily shoved a cup to his left hand, closing his fingers around it with her smaller ones. The heat of her skin a contrast against the cold surface of the clay cup. By the sloshing he felt inside of it, it was something liquid - water, he honestly hoped. Refusing to steer his sight away from the blue-eyed girl, Itachi brought the cup to his lips, and slowly drank the liquid - water - like a thirsty greedy man, with class enough to do it without making a mess. "Itachi" He spoke strongly this time. Kagome shivered at the sound of his voice, but he ignored it, as she gave him a big sunny smile.

"I'm Kagome, a priestess" She pointed to herself - he already knew her name, but a Miko? Her clothes looked nothing like he _knew_... "That is Sango, she's a demon slayer" the other female nodded at him silently, he nodded back, though this was getting better and better, what with she being a _DEMON_ slayer and all... "And that is Miroku, a monk" Again he wondered if none of them had surnames, when Kagome stopped her introductions, Miroku the houshi was staring at him yet again, with those purple calculating eyes of his... Itachi just ignored all. "There's also Inuyasha and Shippou, but they are away hunting something to eat" Briefly he mused if he should say anything about his... profession... to this people. He knew nothing of this place.

"You're Itachi then?" Miroku asked politely. Itachi moved his stare from Kagome to the said-to-be monk, and with his Sharingan, what he saw was a little bit curious. The monk's body was covered with a white-golden aura, the contrary to chakra, that was limited to the insides of the body; Miroku's energy was flowing all around him. The same happened to Kagome, though her aura was a soft baby pink, that was wrapped around him like a blanket... he wondered if Kagome knew that, but found better not to think too deep about it. The only one with a lack of a super-nova like aura was Sango, though he could see that she had a very rudimentary chakra path-way... Even genins had stronger chakra-works. He guessed that she trained it since a young child to develop it that way, but it wasn't a complete shinobi training.

"Hn" Itachi mumbled, distracted by his musings over Sango, the demon slayer - and trying to find out just what was Kagome's and Miroku's aura about.

"Itachi-san..." Kagome called to him softly, almost hesitantly. Itachi looked at her direction, seemingly making her unnerved with his unblinking red stare. "I-I found you unconscious by the dried well, up at Inuyasha's forest... You were badly wounded, and would have died for sure..." Kagome sighed, unsure of how to continue "You were sleeping for three days..." He knew now where she wanted to get. Maybe she wanted to know how he ended up to battered. Her two friends were quietly watching him for any reactions, though he remained sitting straight, with a passive emotionless face and red eyes...

It was that moment he realized first time that he could see... **SEE **- actually see without the blurr and the pain - no foggy image in his eyes, as he could see as clearly as when he was younger and the strain the Mangekyou pulled on him wasn't so abrasive. He could see better than before now.

"You healed me" He stated, with an awed lilt to his voice... not that anyone would have noticed anyway, it was there. Kagome nodded her head uncertainly - she could see his eyes widen and his breathing hitch - worried that she did something wrong. "Thank you" Itachi thanked her from the deepest part of his ungodly being. Even though he wasn't sure if he still deserved to live, someone else decided his fate for him this time - yet again - and Kagome saved his life.

"It was nothing" Kagome fiddled with the hem of her white and green, sailor-like fuku. A blush covering her cheeks. Sango's eyes narrowed on him, and Miroku had a secret smile dancing on his lips.

"It wasn't" Itachi replied curtly, startling Kagome. The girl's blush deepened slightly. "You don't even know me" Sango's hand touched Kagome's shoulder, and Itachi could practically recite what was going in that head of hers... out of this group, she seemed the most level headed - seemed being the key word - as she was the only one with her full guard up.

"It is my duty" Kagome shook her head. Black mass of darkness spilling over her shoulder. It was fuller than his own hair, and longer and thicker too, and it was clear she cared a lot for it. Itachi cursed his super-awareness. Pink lips curled into a smile "I'm a priestess, remember" She tapped his bandaged arm lightly, jokingly. Itachi held in the urge to hold her hand away from him, but the way her aura soothed his and calmed his most primal instincts, he relaxed a little around this blue eyed girl.

"Now can you answer us _how_ you got so maimed and _why_?" Sango's eyes were still narrowed, and Itachi had to give it to her. She had good instincts, that one. Miroku the monk perked up too, staring at Itachi expectantly. Though it was Kagome's blue eyes that made him open his mouth, and say something that usually he wouldn't even under torture.

"My little brother" He said simply, as if it would answer all of their questions and they should be happy about it. Miroku had his lips twitching into a little mocking smirk as Sango's nose flared with anger. Kagome looked between her friends and him, and smiled a little, but then grimaced.

"Your _brother_ did this to you?" Kagome asked slowly, as if afraid of his answer, and if the horrified widening of her eyes was any indication, she wouldn't like his reply, at all.

"Hn" Itachi sighed, forget all about his shinobi training about not showing any emotion. Under those blue eyes, he felt like spilling his darkest secrets... He wondered what kind of power this girl had over him, and found himself not annoyed by it one bit. Sango said no more, her face darkening like a twilight sky. Miroku grimaced too. It looked like these people had problem with brothers too. Kindred spirits, just what he needed.

"You should rest..." Kagome suggested after a few more seconds of gleeful silence. Her aura a lullaby to his, and once again he thought of how strange it was to have a source of power outside of one's body, like the monk and the priestess. Sango huffed, rattling purposely the sword she had on her waist. Miroku leered at her rear, earning a heated glare from the demon slayer.

"Hn" Itachi said nothing else, but he didn't lie down. Kagome gently pushed him down on the futon, until his back was once again against the floor. This time the strain on his wounds wasn't so bad, or because he was more distracted with the feel of warm hands against his cold skin - because he complied to being led by her - and as soon as he closed his eyes to blink, he found just how tire\d he felt.

"We will wake you up for dinner" Kagome assured, patting his shoulder. With his eyes closed, he de-activated the Sharingan, and fell into blissful sleep. No dreams came to haunt him this time, it may have something to do with Kagome's hands brushing away his long bangs from his face - that's the last thing he remembered.

XxxxXxxxX

End of Chapter 2! :D Hope you guys liked it! :) If you did, please leave a smart comment below! o/


	3. 3: Relations

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Itachi ponders on these _strange_ people and also takes it upon himself to "sit" Inuyasha.  
**Genre**: General.

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

3: **Relations**.

Itachi felt he understood the dynamics of this group after a few days observing them.

"We need to keep moving! Wench!" Inuyasha, a creature that he learned was called a half-demon - to his surprise - screamed to the gentle hearted girl he came to care for a fraction of a bit. Kagome. Those few days have been very productive to Itachi, as he learned a lot of things by observation only. Of course Miroku was only too happy to help him fill up some blanks.

Kagome broke a jewel - a powerful, precious jewel - and now she had to collect all its pieces that have been scattered all over the world - which he learned is - indeed - another dimension.

Shippou is alive and well full demon kid. As he much liked to prance about, the auburn haired boy's a kitsune... but different from Kyuubi, that is a monster, Shippou's the controversial paradox to the other, older, crueler fox - for one, the boy only have one tail - and didn't go out killing everyone in front of his immediate area.

Inuyasha is a half-dog-demon with a short temper and no strategically thinking, like a bowling ball... once launched, you had no control over it. Though Kagome could send the half-demon to the dirt with one amusing word - sit - when she felt he deserved.

Sango's a little hard. She's caring to her friends, and is obviously in love with the monk, who is fond of fondling her butt. From what Miroku told him, she lost her family, minus the younger brother, who now works to another half-demon, Naraku - who, they told him, was their nemesis like enemy. She also has a Nekomata - demonic cat with two tails - called Kirara. When he first saw the tiny kitty, with the two swishing tails, he remembered of the Nibi - the two tailed bijuu - they had extracted.

Miroku is, by far, the easiest. With his lecherous advance to any and all female in fertile stage, and his "cursed hand" that loved to wander to Sango's derriere, as far as he could tell - a lot Jiraiya like to Itachi's tastes - Miroku too had a bone to pick with that Naraku person.

Naraku - finally - he hadn't meet personally this infamous half-demon, but from what he gathered, Naraku killed Inuyasha's lover to obtain the jewel - how it ended up with Kagome was the main mystery - killed all of Sango's demon-slayer village controlling the body of her brother, Kohaku, and then zombifying the boy to use his skills - much like Orochimaru - and was the one who cursed Miroku's lineage with the Wind Tunnel in his hands - It would have been a pretty good Blood Line from where Itachi came from, if it wasn't for the fact that the Kazaana would end up so big and swallowing Miroku whole.

Talk about back-fire.

Though he also learned, this time from Kagome and Miroku, that he had flips of demon blood - like a hanyou or something - but more to the "or something" side - but it was very, very diluted - mainly because he didn't burn to ashes when Kagome tried to heal him - even if it hurt like hell. So he kindly told them about his bloodline doujutsu, the sharingan, that he could use at will to speed his reaction time, but not specifics, like the jutsus he also could use with it. Itachi now had a theory to do with the Uchiha line, and was slightly concerned about having this percentage of demonic blood, and what all the in-breeding his clan did in the past century or two.

Now they knew he was a ninja though, and he earned the grudgingly given respect of Sango, after she asked for a "friendly" spar to test his skills... he only used Taijutsu against her, and didn't even activate his special eyes - and was still recovering from a fatal wound. Sango was fast and strong, more than an average human, but it was like fighting a genin... So the victory came fast to him.

Back to the present.

When Inuyasha finished his bash-Kagome-for-the-hell-of-it, it wasn't Kagome who sent the half dog demon to the dirt, for even before she thought about saying the key word "sit", Itachi already had his hand griping tightly to Inuyasha's neck, while pressuring with his knee the spine, and forcing the hanyoukai to the ground, by grouching over him.

Inuyasha snarled ferousciously, but Itachi held firm, emotionless and contrite. Kagome, Miroku and Sango all gasped - for reasons unknown though, like the fact he was attacking their friend, or his super-human speed.

"Apologize, now" Itachi ordered the one on his grasp. His voice like bricks of solid stone, though, his words carried heavily through the air. Inuyasha snarled some more, and true to his DNA, started to growl - a very dog like growl - Kagome blinked and closed her mouth, opting to stare at him with awe. No one, repeat, no one would mess with the one who saved his life - he knew now it was her idea to stop and check on him - so now that he was free in this new dimension, he ought to protect his saver - shinobi honor and all - until he found a way to go back once more.

"Go to hell" Inuyasha said instead of an excuse. Itachi tightened his grip on the other's neck, Inuyasha trashed some more, cursing and cursing until the air was out of his lungs. Silver locks scattered all over the red clad boy's back, and Itachi felt a twisted kind of pleasure when his weight over his captive made him pull those few strands of hair - though Inuyasha didn't complain openly about it.

"Been there" Itachi paired evenly. Stoic mask full on, though one could see the semi-amused light in his eyes - black eyes. He still was making Inuyasha apologize although. "Apologize" He ordered again.

"Itachi-san..." Kagome called him lowly, hesitant voice reaching his ear. He turned his head to look side-ways her way, capturing her in his black, blank stare. She gave him a small smile, as her own blue eyes pleaded with him to let go when her voice couldn't do it.

"Stay out of it bitch!" Inuyasha yelled breathlessly. Kagome flinched visibly. Miroku was scowling and Sango had her wide, incredulous eyes vied on them. Itachi just used his other free hand to pin the back locks of Inuyasha's silver hair with an iron-like grip, and twister it until the hanyou cried out in pain.

"Foolish decision, that of yours" Itachi commented, not even winded after holding Inuyasha down for all those minutes. Of course he was using his chakra to double his strength, and could hold on like this for hours and hours if needed be. "Apologize to her, now" Inuyasha was gasping for air now, his face flushed and his eyes closed. Kagome held a hand to cover her wide mouth, her eyes as wide as saucers. Sango kept suspiciously silent, and Itachi felt like she wanted to do that to Inuyasha for a long time.

"Inuyasha, better to apologize to Kagome-sama now" Miroku leveled, even voiced. The monk's purple eyes were settled on the back of Itachi's head. "Itachi-sama will let go of you then" for the sake of it, Itachi Hn-ed.

"Fine!" Inuyasha rasped. Itachi let go of his grip for a second, just enough to get the hanyou his breath back. "I'm sorry Kagome!" the red clad half demon then proceeded to curse Itachi for all that he was worth, but the shinobi kept a deaf ear to the silver haired grouchy boy. Instead he choose to glance at Kagome, and study her expression.

She seemed awed to no end, and still had her eyes wide. Black hair dancing with the light breeze, as she then smiled fully to him.

"That's alright, Inuyasha" Kagome managed, still locking gaze with Itachi. She nodded to him in thanks, and the shinobi hesitated for a moment, before nodding back.

XxxxXxxxX

End of chapter 3! :D  
Authors feed on reviews like starved mongrels! D: Feed your author, don't feel shy... ;)


	4. 4: Shadowy Ninja

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Itachi shows how _shadowy_ he is.

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

4: **A Shadowy** **Ninja**.

"So" Kagome started, looking at him "You are really a ninja?" She asked/commented with an amazed voice. Itachi nodded silently. They were traveling for a few days, after he was completely healed from his ordeal. He took it upon himself to protect the priestess Kagome, as she's the one who saved his life, and introduced him to this new world. Her aura still mingled with his, and when he used the sharingan to stare at it, he saw that she had her presence wrapped around all of her companions. She accepted him into their little way-yard group, even without knowing him entirely - though that would be fairly difficult - and because of that, he would protect her.

He was used to work with teams. What with starting his shinobi career with two other genin and a jounin sensei. Later when he became ANBU, he had his platoon... In Akatsuki, he had Kisame, and once or another, he had to work with others members.

So he, in the deepest part of his being, disliked to be by himself. Not that he would be acknowledging that out loud so soon, if not ever.

And he still hasn't spent a thought about his entire family related problem. He was trying to forget about it for now actually. But he couldn't help but worry a little about Sasuke's situation... just a little.

The road they were following was even, and aside from a few disbanded youkai, they didn't find any trouble.

Inuyasha was leading the group, with Shippou perched on his shoulder. The little fox-boy was animatedly teasing Inuyasha's hair, the later only grunting angrily, but otherwise pretending to ignore Shippou's existence. Itachi was walking a little after Inuyasha, keeping a healthy - in Inuyasha's point of view - distance away from said half-demon. Kagome was right beside Itachi, bugging him with question after question... not that he minded...

Sango and Miroku were behind them, in an companionship silence with one another, though Sango had her eyes glued to the monk's "cursed hand", as it is usual when she low her guard, she has her butt fondled.

"Hn" Itachi gave as an answer. Kagome nodded thoughtfully. Sango snorted, which brought a small smirk to play on the lost shinobi's lips. She was still sore from her shameful lose, a few days ago - it seemed.

"Oh, wow! I've never met a ninja before" And that line Kagome gave lightly, made Itachi's smirk widen. As if she was meant to know and meet all sort of figures, and the fact that she never met a ninja before now, is a crime.

"But they exist, Kagome-chan... even if Itachi-san is the first shinobi I've met, I heard about some hidden ninja villages" Sango said, butting into their conversation. Itachi's smirk disappeared, as his honed in instincts were screaming at him some warnings. So in this dimention there were ninjas too... the question is if they are like the ones in his old one.

"I thought ninja were supposed to skulk the darkness, or something... Itachi-kun here is not shadowy at all!" Said Itachi just had an eyebrow twitch. So these people were subestimating him to a new whole level... it was a good thing, though, he didn't knew why it bothered him that Kagome thought so little of him... he... not "shadowy"? Another eyebrow twitch. He absolutely had to prove a point now...

So when Kagome turned her head from Sango's direction, to smile teasingly at him, "Itachi" popped out of existence with a dramatic cloud of smoke.

"Wha-" Kagome stopped walking, along with Sango and Miroku. Itachi had simply disappeared! She scanned the area around them, rapid blue eyes frantic in their search. From the front of the group, Inuyasha huffed annoyed as Shippou too looked around for Itachi.

"Where is that teme?" He had his nose up in the air right on time. Shippou followed his lead, and turned his little nose too to sniff along Inuyasha.

Before any on them could do anything, Kagome's shadow distorted strangely before a black, shadowy hand gripped her feet. She screamed in fright, and in a blink, she had an Itachi holding a hand to stop her screaming, as he sneaked his other arm around her waist. Fully popped out from her shadow.

"I-Itachi-kun?" Kagome stammered. It wasn't everyday that you had hands forming out of your own shadow and pulling on your leg - if it happened to you, you'd be scared too - but Itachi was breathing calmly behind her as he held her form still, and for the first time since they met him, the group realized the potential to end their lives that Itachi held.

Itachi breathed in Kagome's scent, trying to calm her down by soothingly holding her. When she relaxed in his hold, he let go of her form, glancing pointedly at her and daring her to call him nothing but "shadowy" again... Itachi knew though, that if he tried this trick with other shinobi, he wouldn't be successful - mostly because of the chakra burst he used to do it - any shinobi above chunnin level could detect the chakra he used, sharingan or not.

But for the stunt he pulled, he spent the whole rest of the week having to undertake question after question from the curious group. Not that he minded - much - he wouldn't be giving them more than his gennin level skills for the time being, unless it'd be necessary - like in case of a fight against a really powerful enemy - like high ranked demons, or Naraku - and he got to hold Kagome close... Another thing he wouldn't be admitting to anyone, as he committed to memory the feeling of her body against his, and the scent of her hair brushing his nose.

At least they learned not to subestimate him, or any shinobi out there, ever again.

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End of chapter 4! :D An even number! I like even numbers... better than I like uneven numbers I guess... but do you know what I like more than even numbers or uneven ones? A lovely revew left by you! yes, you! o/


	5. 5: Brothers

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Sesshoumaru shows his face, ans Itachi gets his chance to act.

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

5: **Brothers**.

Itachi is a really patient man, or so he likes to think. But if there is one thing he learned for sure in this dimension, is that there is someone here who could test his saint-like patience like no other could before - not even Deidara, the explosive, explosive expert.

"Oi! Teme! Aren't you going to help?" Inuyasha cursed again, angry golden eyes focused solely on Itachi's smirking figure. Itachi laughed quietly to himself. A low rumbling like sound that came out of his chest. Kagome, standing beside him, as it was the most secure position to be in right now, stared at him strangely before giggling out herself.

"OHh! You have a sense of humor!" the black haired - blue eyed - girl teased him. His breath hitched once as he stilled his silent laughing, glaring half heartedly at her. Kagome giggled some more.

Miroku sighed tiredly, and Sango too had a bored expression on her face... so it seemed this happened with quite the frequency.

The demon cradling not-so-gently Inuyasha by the neck gave them a dubious stare, analyzing them quickly. Itachi felt on edge around this particular demon, but couldn't help noticing how he resembled Inuyasha to a certain degree... perhaps a relative?

"Damn it! Sesshoumaru!" Seeing that Itachi wasn't going to free him off of his prediction, as it was Inuyasha's own fault in the first place - he was the one to annoy the other demon, so he asked to be mauled by the neck by said demon - Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha decided to attack verbally Sesshoumaru again. "Release me you jackass!" the demon blinked emotionlessly, in a very Itachi-like personification... or the other way around, as the demon Sesshoumaru's visibly older than Itachi.

"Hn" Sesshoumaru grunted, proving yet again how he and Itachi were alike. Inuyasha cursed some more, colorful words that made Kagome and Sango blush. Itachi's annoyance level went up a notch - and his Inuyasha-tolerance level too – but that went down. "Foolish little brother" Sesshoumaru said stoically. Itachi seriously was starting to doubt the situation at hand. This was like watching a wicked flash back of his own past. "Stop being so pitiful and I may let you live" and the magic was broken. Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippou sighed as one.

This is indeed a frequent situation.

And once again brothers were mentioned, as Sesshoumaru proclaimed to be Inuyasha's. Briefly he wondered if all of them had sibling's problems, but then again, so far he uncovered Sango's and Inuyasha's - plus his own Sasuke's one.

"Don't worry Itachi-kun" Kagome rested a hand on his arm, he wasn't the least worried, but would let her comfort him all she wanted "Its always like this, Sesshoumaru wants Inuyasha to get stronger, so that he won't feel as ashamed of having a weak brother, and Inuyasha wants Sesshoumaru dead. They will stop as soon as Sesshoumaru tires from Inuyasha's screaming" he nodded dutifully. Fully prepared to defend her in case this Sesshoumaru had a change of heart and decided to attack them instead.

Though, something struck him. Sesshoumaru wanted Inuyasha to get stronger? Like he did with Sasuke? Itachi really shouldn't be trying to relate with the older silver haired, golden eyed, apathetic looking demon, but he couldn't help it when so many facts pointed them to be kindred souls... Fine, he wouldn't delve much in that area... For now he contented in being Kagome's personal body-guard.

"Is he a half-demon too?" He asked to fill in the silence, in between Inuyasha's grunts of pain, and Sesshoumaru's slashes.

"No, Sesshoumaru is a full demon..." Miroku answered for Kagome, as she turned to stare at the fight when Inuyasha unleashed Tetsusaiga. Sango nodded to confirm. Itachi nodded back and turned to watch the fight as well.

"Interesting" He groused. Interesting indeed. Though, when Inuyasha screeched "Wind Scar!" And Sesshoumaru dodged it - and as luck dictates - the huge wave mass of power was directed to their about direction... The rest of the group's eyes widened slightly, before Sango grabbed Shippou by his tail and hauled herself on the huge - now transformed - nekomata. And Miroku followed them soon after behind Sango on the abnormally large cat, leaving Kagome completely unprotected in front of Inuyasha's earth splitting attack.

Some friends they were... the shinobi thought absently, before the danger registered and he took some action.

Without thinking twice, Itachi held Kagome bridal style and jumped the highest and the farthest he could, away from the explosion that followed Inuyasha's Wind Scar. His eyes were blazing with fury, and the red and black spinning wheels were a certain affirmation of his rage - so much that he had the Mangekyou activate without a hitch or pain. Kagome nestled in his arms was oblivious to the murderous thoughts that crossed Itachi's head about a certain half-demon, who deemed it fair to almost kill his friends.

But if the shivers were of any indication, she felt his murderous intent.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha screamed desperately. Jumping to the place where his friends stood not a minute ago, before the energy wave threatened to smite them. Itachi landed softly on a three, still holding Kagome securely to his chest. The girl was looking at him with that awed light in her eyes, and she was smiling gratefully.

"I'm fine!" Kagome screamed back to the panicking hanyou, though Itachi would have liked her to remain silent. Too large, innocent blue eyes were on him again. "Thank you, Itachi-kun" She breathed shyly. Itachi nodded down to her, and settled her on her feet, beside him on the three. To avoid her imminent fall, Itachi kept an arm around her waist - to keep her from falling, only, obviously…

"Hnf... stupid hanyou" Sesshoumaru sneered, stealing Itachi's line.

"Shut the fuck up!" Inuyasha sneered back.

Sesshoumaru smirked pointedly. Itachi was starting to like Inuyasha's older brother more by now.

"This Sesshoumaru won't lower himself to the likes of you" Inuyasha's cheek got redder after that statement.

"This Inuyasha will pound you so hard that you'll be restricted to a worm-based diet by the end of the day!" Golden met golden in a fierce battle of wills, Itachi watching it all with a quirk of his dark tinted eyebrow.

When Sesshoumaru decided to grant him, their own personal shinobi, the honor of being stared at.

Itachi controlled the shivers that went down his spine, as the white-clad demon's stare brought back some memories of when he and Kisame had to capture one of their Bijuus. The malevolent air, the evil chakra pulsing right under Sesshoumaru's skin.

Behind Itachi's lids, an image begun to form. A blond haired-blue eyed boy, Uzumaki Naruto, holder of the Kyuubi no Youko. When he faced the boy, even if he wouldn't admit to anyone, he felt afraid… The Kitsune's red, corrosive chakra spilling killing intent on his person.

Sesshoumaru's leveled glare brought the same sensation. The only thing keeping Itachi feeling like a bug under Inuyasha's brother's feet, was the fact that Itachi knew he could hold his own in a fight against him – his lungs felt as if they were new – thanks to Kagome – and he could see perfectly well now too… Sesshoumaru – Mr. Killing Perfection – would have the shock of his life fighting against a fully trained Shinobi – who were tools to kill.

Itachi sucked up the intimidation he felt, and left his own wave of killing intent waft toward the long haired demon – glaring with his glowing sharingan eyes – absently, he noticed that Inuyasha was scowling angrily to himself, while cursing Sesshoumaru yet again.

"I see that you have earned yourself a valuable ally, Inuyasha" Sesshoumaru spoke suddenly. Breaking their silent battle.

"Feh! You can have the teme if you want!" Inuyasha snapped to his brother. Sesshoumaru only blinked, as if the notion of accepting a human – that wasn't Rin – into his pack was blasfemious. Itachi twitched. Kagome squirmed a little.

"You know, Sesshoumaru tried to kill me once" Kagome said lightly, as if commenting the weather. "I don't really enjoy being in his war-path" the girl mumbled. Itachi turned his head to the side. Thoughtfully.

"True, I don't suppose it is wise to engage into a fight with that Sesshoumaru, if you're here with me" Itachi smirked at Inuyasha's direction. Who was gaping at both Kagome and Itachi. "Unfortunately I won't fight you today, Sesshoumaru" The older demon glared at Itachi some more, evaluating something, before nodding, turning on his heels, and walking away…

"Bastard!" Inuyasha screamed at his brother's back.

"I believe the bastard is you, Inuyasha" Sesshoumaru threw over his shoulder. Kagome bit her lips to stop from laughing, and risking to fall down her perch on top of the three – Inuyasha's face was completely priceless…

"I will kill you, Sesshoumaru!" Sadly, Sesshoumaru was way too far to hear, or just didn't care, for he was a dog, and dogs hear better than humans, to reply to that.

It all ended fairly well to Itachi though, he avoided an unnecessary battle.

XxxxXxxxX

XxxxXxxxX

End of chapter 5! :D how about a review? huh? huhu? I know you want to... ;)


	6. 6: Protector

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Itachi wonders about a little of his previous life, and his new one, and find one word in common: protector. (**Warning: Violence**)

**The tales of the lost Shinobi.**

6: **Protector**.

"Give the jewel!" A voice hissed, but it was soon silenced by a quick slash from Itachi's short - ANBU like katana. Another low level demon wanting the jewel...

Itachi's been with this group for months now, and they all had fallen into a routine. They trusted Itachi - finally - and at a certain degree, Itachi trusted them.

"Shyaaa!" Another voice hissed angrily. A slim, snake demon sprouted from the ground, surprising them. But Itachi was prepared, and with a single leap and a second slash, this other demon was beheaded as the first.

"Show off" Inuyasha mumbled under his breath. Itachi smirked at him.

A few weeks ago, Itachi managed to get his hands on a sword, one similar to one he was used to have when in ANBU. It helped greatly his attacks, since the most he's been doing is simple, D-B-class jutsus - And saving Kagome from death and/or serous maiming - once or twice. Now he didn't need to deplete his chakra reserves on jutsus, when he could decapitate an enemy - demon - as easily with a sharp object. Not that a little chakra would be missed... his body's chakra reserve is large, since the sharingan only consumed it way too fast.

Another thing. He was limiting the use of his doujutsu here... There weren't many useful things he could copy with it here, and he knew faster academy students then the people in this dimension. Sesshoumaru an exception... barely. And in this world, it was also made clear how much the average population of humans despised demons, and red, spinning eyes were usually found in demons – he noticed the worst way possible... and he wanted to pass as unnoticed as possible.

Blame it his need to blend in and look inconspicuous.

His clothes were lost the first week in this dimension. The tattered Akatsuki cloak was beyond saving, as well as his mesh shirt. He lost his weapon pouch somewhere between getting Sasuke's fist inside his body, and torturing Sasuke soon after with a well placed Tsukiyomi. An old lady, by the name of Kaede, kindly offered him some clothes. They were simple, but comfortable, and fit him very well.

"THE JEWEL!" Another huge snake-like youkai emerged this time.

"Katon: Goukyaku no jutsu!" Itachi breathed out the monumental ball of fire at the worm, reducing it to a pile of ashes. Inuyasha sniffed disdainfully as Kagome clapped.

"I still wonder how Itachi-sama can do that..." Miroku wondered out loud. Sango cocked her head to the side - Itachi had already approached her about her little chakra training, and she was in some of Itachi's secret ninja techniques.

As well as under his wing as his new impromptu student. He'd train her for numerous reasons, like not getting rusty in his own skills, and having one more capable hand at defending Kagome.

"The bastard uses ki" Inuyasha snapped. Itachi's head went to the dog demon's direction, as he gave the hanyou a glance. "I can feel it when he uses his magic tricks" Under the scrutiny of his sharingan eyes, Inuyasha proved to have a rather large chakra reserve, chakra that felt similar to one of the bijous - seeing as they were all demons - it made some kind of sense, so it's a possibility that Inuyasha could feel certain levels of chakra usage - Aside the fact that some of Inuyasha's physical attacks, with or without Tetsusaiga, were done using chakra…

Then and Sesshoumaru too had a huge chakra reserve. Corrosive like chakra, demonic to boost.

What was ki but natural/physical energy? Chakra resulted from one's spirit, their physical resilience, and their personal experiences. Ki's what composes half of what chakra is.

"Close" Itachi hinted with a smirk.

"Youki?" Miroku suggested, blinking... they had this conversation before - if he could summon youki - but his blood was too diluted for him to use demonic energy effectively - pity... really.

"Reiki?" Kagome pinched in hesitantly. But when all eyes focused on her with numerous expressions of disbelief, she blushed prettily. "Well, it could be!" Actually, there was no absolute way for Itachi to use Reiki, even if he wanted to... what with his above commented demonic heritage.

"Tsc..." Inuyasha shook his head. Sango was giggling silently behind her hand. Of course she would, she was privy to his "secret" after all. Itachi was greatly amused by all this.

"What is it, Itachi-kun?" Kagome asked, Itachi held back his answer when those blue eyes questioned him... "Kaede-sama trained me a little about being a miko, but I can't recognize what you use" she pleaded with her eyes. Itachi knew he was goner the moment she opened her mouth to suggest something as improbable as "reiki".

"Inuyasha came close" The shinobi admitted hesitantly at first, when Inuyasha snorted with his nose in the air. "What I use is a combination of physical energy and spiritual one" he spoke patiently to Kagome, as she mulled it inside her head. "It's called chakra, and combining the natural elemental affinity of your ki with your body's energy, you can use jutsus like my great fire ball" Itachi smirked at Inuyasha's direction. "All demons I've met, use chakra, Inuyasha included, even if he didn't know what it was until now" The smirk got wider when Inuyasha scowled "At least I hope..." Added the shinobi just to spite the half demon.

He would really have given a good professor, if only he haven't played along the council's plan of mass-murdering the Uchiha clan... like a little good pawn. A disposable piece. His mood soured at this thought.

Not that anything showed outwardly. He was still as impassive as ever while glaring at the hanyou with equal vigor as Inuyasha glared at him.

Then it hit him.

He was becoming more and more free with his long-time locked down emotions. They were flowing through his heart like a thin line, but as time went by, they were getting stronger... It all started with his fight with Sasuke. And it got worse with opening his eyes and finding Kagome's face hovering over him - a deciding factor.

Here, with this strange group of people, he didn't need to worry about being killed in his sleep, not being stabbed in the back. He didn't have to be a tool anymore, nor a killing machine - a refreshing feeling swapped his body and left him lighter.

And once again, he swore to protect Kagome to the best of his abilities.

He remembered all too well of when he had to lock his heart. The memory a dark and corrupt cloud hovering over him… The feel of his sword piercing the flesh of those in his family, his kin… their cries, their mocking words… _can you really do it, your piece of shit?_

Shisui's last moment, when he looked at Itachi with pity, and smiled – a fatherly smile – his last action after handing the younger shinobi a suicide letter, and dying peacefully when Itachi killed him.

His father's enraged face came next to Shisui's calm one. The strong mouth set into a thin line, while blazing sharingan eyes of his family's patriarch bored into Itachi's head. The disapproving glance of his mother… and when Itachi told his father of what he had to commit – _Because of your foolish decisions, our clan was condemned to oblivion_ – Fury burned his father's heart when he lunged at his older son.

Itachi never raised a finger to stop the fist that sent him flying against the wall. He felt he needed to feel pain, so that he was sure he still was in the waking plane – Fugaku came at him again… but this time Itacih wasn't passive. He run his sword through his father's withered heart, trying to null his thoughts as to not feel anything.

Mikoto came running at him – _what have you done!_ – tears running down the Uchiha matriarch's face, her black eyes, so similar to Sasuke's, were wide and panicked. Itachi closed his eyes, and once again had to lock down his own bleeding heart. The agony of hearing his mother's desperate cries for help was tearing him from the inside out – a scene crossed his mind then – the earth tinted red as corpse after corpse littered it. He saw Konoha citizens dead, with burn marks and slash marks… he saw his clan man heaving a sword, and piercing an innocent child's heart… a child that could be Sasuke… Sasuke would see the horrors war would bring. Sasuke… _Sasuke._

Itachi's heart gave its last breath that night, when he killed his mother and threw her body over his father's one.

Then Sasuke came in.

And Itachi's resolve to protect his younger brother intensified. His carefully laid out plan gaining roots as his mind settled over his heart – as it was only focused on Sasuke.

But in order to protect Sasuke, he would have to make his brother hate him, hate him with every fiber of his being – Itachi did it… he scarred Sasuke for the rest of his life… at the pit of his darkened heart though, he hoped that Sasuke wouldn't believe him now… that his foolish little Sasuke knew him, and loved him enough not to believe this no sense.

_Run, run and cling to life_.

He told Sasuke to do what he would be doing. Living in despair… watching Madara and Orochimaru, to make sure none of those fools got their hands on Sasuke.

But he failed. He failed to protect his brother from Orochimaru… Not for long though. At least Orochimaru fell for Itachi's trap, and tried to overcome Sasuke during their fight, while Itachi used Susano-o. The snake sannin was sealed forever now… At least.

"Itachi-kun, are you ok?" Kagome's voice brought him back down from his thoughts. Her hands were on his arms, and their heat offered some comfort. Itachi shook his head slightly "If you want to talk about it, I'm here" The girl offered with a kind smile.

Sasuke was safe from Orochimaru, was much more stronger… enough to protect himself now – from Madara, he hoped… Itachi felt his sacrifices were worth, now at this moment, when that blue eyed oblivious priestess smiled at him.

"Just thinking about my brother" Answered the shinobi with a stoic voice. Kagome raised an eyebrow, but then her smile grew in proportion.

"I have a brother too!" Itachi really didn't know that. So he listened when Kagome launched on tale after tale of her little brother's adventures.

XxxxXxxxX

Finished chapie 6! XD huhhaaah! Anyway - Six is like... nine... and nine is like... six... Ok... wait until chapter nine then~ Until there, drop a review, or a cookie... or a fortune cookie!


	7. 7: Fire Weasel

AN: I am awfully sorry for not posting this yesterday~ I have a good excuse though. Mother wanted me to do some chores, and since I'm her evil pawn (D:) I had to do it~ (Mother is too good to do evil things... like buying her own cigarets... or ice-cream). I'll do my best to keep posting one chapter per day~! \O/

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Itachi proves to everyone, that he is "_hot"_.

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

7: **Fire Weasel**.

A few days later, Itachi had the great pleasure of a firsthand meeting with Naraku.

He honestly couldn't see the big deal...

"kukuku... I see that you have one more friend... one that I don't know of..." Naraku spoke sarcastically and with the hint of a smirk under that baboon pelt he liked to wear - even if it was during summer and the heat made them all sweat.

"Fuck you!" Itachi could count on Inuyasha to cuss like Hidan, it gave him some home-sickness, that would soon disperse as if he'd never feel it in the first time - who would miss Hidan anyway?

"As educated as ever, I see" Naraku returned calmly. The baboon's front turned to Itachi. "Who are you?" The half-demon asked snottily. Itachi held the urge to chuckle... correction, he just chuckled, not even answering the fool... who, by the way, was only a puppet - as far as how its chakra was fluctuating indicated - Itachi spent a fair amount of time with Sasori before Deidara "joined" and Orochimaru left. So he was bound to recognize the signs of a puppet when he was near one.

Like the chakra's fluctuations, or the lack of a chakra source - though Sasure used to be good company... then Deidara "joined" and wherever the "Hiruku Sasori" went, the blond went after... of course that the bomber didn't have much choice, what with having to be bound for a few months after trying to explode Akatsuki's hideout in Amegakure? Itachi made sure to make Deidara promise not to do it again, and told him that Orochimaru was enough of a hassle for them to handle at the time – they didn't need another one.

It was then that Deidara promised to kill Orochimaru for them... the blond was hell bent on being their "number one" hassle. Go figure?

Sasori though, started to see the blond brat as an apprentice of sort, and even made the bomber start to call him "danna". They never saw eye to eye on the question of what is art... and mostly because Deidara liked to smite their victims, which wasn't very fruitful for Sasori's ever growing puppet army. But the old puppet master had a heart... literally... he _only_ had a heart... everything else was made of wood.

"Not your damn business!" Inuyasha growled, Itachi still had half his mind on the present, preparing to attack. Seeing the tell tale signs of disaster waiting to happen, Itachi sneaked his arms around Kagome, jumping with her a few feet back to give Inuyasha some space. Sango whistled to Kirara and did the same when the demonic cat transformed. Miroku shrugged and followed suit - walking as if there wasn't an epic proportioned fight about to unravel.

The giant sword known as the Tetsusaiga, in Inuyasha's grasp, was swung in an arch, decapitating the doll like a hot knife and butter. A dark purple cloud of what looked like a _pretty_ purple cloud, the shade of which was Kisami's favorite nail polish - but it was actually miasma - escaped from the doll's neck, covering the area around Inuyasha like a blanket. Itachi thanked his finely honed senses - because if he hadn't escape with Kagome, for sure the girl now would be open to an enemy attack in the middle of mysterious purple poison.

Speaking of Kagome, he still had his arms around her - but it was perfectly explainable - with her already in his arms, it was easier to escape with her in case Inuyasha got frisky with that Naraku guy. Itachi needed to seriously teach that boy some strategy... and maybe some sword skill - he also needed to help, because it looked like Naraku had the advantage.

What with being a no-pain-feeling-doll, beheaded, and with multiple tentacles moving at his will? Inuyasha was swinging that sword of his like a meat cleaver - Itachi whole heartedly agreed with Sesshoumaru now, Tetsusaiga should be with someone who knew how to use it - not with Inuyasha.

"DIE!" When Inuyasha screamed that, and came descending from a jump with Tetsusaiga poised to split the doll in two, Itachi knew it was his turn to help in the hanyou. Using only one hand, he created a Shadow Clone, and passed Kagome to his clone - he ought to have that clone's memory after all of this... what with that clone having Kagome all over him? - As he had foreseen, Naraku had pierced Inuyasha's stomach mid descend, leaving the silver haired hanyou dangling in the air uselessly and bleeding to death.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed, worried about her friend. Sango, poised on her big-bad-battle cat, prepared to launch her big-bad-battle boomerang.

As soon as Miroku unrolled the beads around his hand to use the Kazaana, from out of nowhere came a swarm of big-bad-battle bees, making Miroku gasp and roll the beads around his hands once again, looking dejected... It was a really good day today.

"Kagome-chan! Stay with Itachi-san's clone" Sango suggested/commanded, much to Itachi's relief and a little of annoyance, since Kagome was preparing to leave the security and warmth of his - _clone's_ - arms, to try and lend help to the pierced Inuyasha.

Sango threw her boomerang - Hiraikotsu - at the tentacle that held Inuyasha. The boomerang swished, and with a sick noise, severed Naraku's tentacles, allowing Inuyasha to escape. Seeing his chance, Itachi did some other hand signs.

"Katon: Karyuu no Asa!" A big fire dragon formed out of Itachi's breath, it was at least ten feet, and with swirling fire body. The light and heat was enough to make Inuyasha and the others step back a bit, but Itachi held his ground and his jutsu. The dragon curled around Itachi, its fire not even seemingly bothering the ninja. As the tentacles flew to try to pierce the new threat, Itachi unleashed his fire dragon on the puppet - the only thing left was ashes.

Itachi had some idea about the picture he made. Black hair flying wildly everywhere, pale face glowering slightly by the warm light the fire dragon gave, shadowy eyes glowing with the red pulsing of the sharingan - he made a very scary, and awesome sight right now.

Satisfied by his enemy turning to ash, Itachi dispensed the chakra his Katon jutsu needed, making it disappear in a flurry of soot and dirt.

He felt Kagome - still in his clone's arms - approaching him slowly, he closed his eyes to de-activate the sharingan, not even winded this time from using it along with a high chakra-costing jutsu. Indeed it was doing him some good to limit the use of his blood line. And then, cool, gentle hands were caressing his cheeks lightly.

"There was some dirt on your... cheek" He opened his eyes to find the blushing form of Kagome in front of him. Inuyasha growled somewhere close, but silenced once clone Itachi glared at him.

"You got lucky, damn!" Sango and Miroku shook their heads, as Kagome stared at the Hanyou curiously. Inuyasha blushed, but refused to give up on his stare match against Itachi II – the clone.

Shippou jumped on Itachi's shoulder then.

"WOW! That was so cool!" The small fox-boy squealed excited "You can make huge fire balls, and then you can make this huge fire dragon! you're good at illusions too! Are you sure you're not a fox?" The boy asked in procession. Itachi blinked once to the boy. Remembering the time he used Henge in front of the group, and left Shippou jealous, because he couldn't transform as well as Itachi – Shippou still couldn't go around making his "henge" without the tail…

"Hn" The stoic man Hn-ed in response. Inuyasha snickered, now behind them - after thoughtfully destroying Itachi II, getting a sick sense of fulfillment as he socked the clone out of existence - Itachi wasn't bothered though, because as soon as the clone popped out in the tell-tale dramatic cloud of smoke, its memories came rushing back to the original…

"No, he's no fox, brat, he is a weasel" Itachi twitched. But when Kagome giggled at the small teasing, he relaxed enough to remove the "murdering" out of his glare at Inuyasha, who snickered some more.

"He would make a good fox, though" Shippou commented, not understand their conversation at all... Every one - minus a twitching Itachi and a scowling Shippou - started to laugh after that.

Well, it _was_ funny.

XxxxXxxxX

End of chapter 7! Hope you guys (gals) liked it~! If the weather is good, send me message bottles!... wait... I don't live by the ocean~ then send me online message bottles! like, like... reviews! o/  
I'm not used to do this, but anon-reviewers should get a reply too! o/  
**Vanja:** Thank you~! here is your update!

**Spotted cow**: Thank you too~! You made blush, really~

Some of your questions, I wasn't really intendind on explaining, since to some it can be boring (I'm glad you took interest on it! since history and mithology are one of my favorite subjects!) x) this is a short story also, not long chapters detailing something... I'm not a history pro, just a reading maniac XD and what if I put in something wrong~? My readers will learn it wrong, and it will make me feel guilty~ not counting the possible flames from someone who _knows _it right.

What you pointed out is trully valid, and I'll do my best to answer you (If I understood correctly that is)~ In order: In Inuyasha, there is no especific time line, but it was during Japan Warrying States Era (around 500 years ago), before Japan was united under one Daimyo, and Tokyo was created out of Edo (Kaede's village). At that time, the Feudal Lords had Samurai to fight for them, and the Shinobi were but clans of Mercenaries, their villages more like Sango's, and not like in Narutoverse. As in, children go to academy and there are civilians and all... If you take Uchiha district, a restrict clan district, then its more like it.

The ninja way, or Ninpou, can be found from the Heian period, in China, to the Kamakura, in Japan (before Sengoku Jidai). It was created as a defencive art, and it developed around the Nature and the own body, the knowlege of Ninpou was passed down from father to son, and it wasn't a school, so it was restricted to a family, or a clan. These techiques were recorded in a Torimaki, or special codified scrols, since it contained their secrets. Ninja were very secretive people, since they lived in a vicious time. They protected their family with their lives, and were not above running from a fight if they knew they'd lose, as in to survive and fight another day.

If you want more knowlege about this subject, look it up :) Its pretty interesting~ I can recomend the Art of War; Sun Tzu, since most of Ninja philosofy comes from there.

Since Inuyashaverse plays in an almost "real" world, if you take off all the demon stuff, then it is safe to say that Inuverse happens along World's history.

Globalization and the growth of human society can explain the demon question. Though, in Japan, there are a lot of myths surrounding the supernatural. Youkai - Animal monsters (roughtly can be translated to demon), Ayakashi - Evil Spirits, Akuma - Devils, all of these are part of Japanese mythology, and if you look closely to Narutoverse, there are traces of it. Kyuubi no Youko is actually a Bagetsuki (BakeKitsune or Monster Fox Spirit) a monster that trully exists in Japanese myths. Or the Nekomata too~!  
Going from the principle that if they exist in Kagome's reality, even if she lives in Tokyo at XXI ctry, and somehow exist in Itachi's world (Kishimoto used a lot of mythology and social culture to create Naruto) then the two worlds could be connected~

I wasn't trying to make the two worlds in a "timely" sequency. Like Kagome's in the past, and Itachi's the future. More like an alternative dimension cohesisting side by side~

If you have any doubt, please let me know~


	8. 8: Home

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: Talk about one's home.

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

8: **Home**.

"Inuyasha, I need to go home" Were the words spoken by Kagome, that made the entire group - minus Itachi, who didn't know what the big deal was - flinch.

"The hell you are! Wench!" Inuyasha never saw when Itachi was right on top of him, with Inuyasha's face pressed to the ground. This time Itachi had hold of both Inuyasha's arms, and was twisting them painfully above the hanyou. Miroku winced slightly, but not at all sorry. Sango had a smirk playing on her lips. Kagome was blushing - from embarrassment, or anger - no one knew.

"You know what to do" Itachi warned. Inuyasha cursed the black haired shinobi to the seventh layer of hell, before moaning in pain when Itachi simply pushed his knee in the middle of the hanyou's spine.

"Fine! I'm sorry Kagome!" Nodding to himself, Itachi got up from the fallen half-dog-demon. Absently, Itachi wondered, by the sad, mournful faced Kagome, if she was somehow missing using her "sit" command. But shook it off as being his imagination - the fact that she was muttering mutely said word under her breath proved nothing.

Really.

"As I said" Kagome coughed behind her hand, the blush - to Itachi's inner satisfaction - was still present on her face. "I need to go home for a week" Inuyasha started to growl, but one single hiss from Itachi silenced the silver haired hanyou. Kagome's mouth twitched.

"We can use this week to rest up some" Miroku agreed, leering suggestively at Sango's direction. Itachi ignored them both, in favor of looking at Kagome's fidgety form.

He knew that she was the only one - aside from that clay-doll woman, Kikiyou - that was able to see the Sacred Jewel shards. Thinking about Kikiyou made him brisk internally. Inner Itachi had its furs up, like a cat's, as its slitted eyes were narrowed in anger.

Not only this Kikiyou woman betrayed this group - numerous times - she also had half of Kagome's soul and powers. And because of her, Inuyasha's broken Kagome's feelings before - not that he minded, much, the fact that Inuyasha wasn't overly - for now - interested in Kagome - for reasons unknown of course - so to him it was all fine... Until Kagome started to cry about it when Inuyasha compared her to Kikiyou.

He absolutely hated seeing that girl's tears... unless they were joy induced, and he could tell the difference, thankyouverymuch.

"Do as you want!" Inuyasha snapped, turning on his back and entering Kaede's hut. They'd only stopped to restock. Kagome sighed sadly. Itachi's fist curled into balls, as he wondered how Inuyasha could be such a fool as not to see Kagome's feelings - not that he was happy to acknowledge it in the first place - it was there before he even joined the group. But for some reason, he felt compelled to try and change the balance... Kagome then huffed, and left to the other direction, stomping her feet in annoyance.

"I'm going with her" Sango announced to Miroku, Itachi and Shippou. Miroku nodded his head to the demon slayer, Kirara took the cue, and jumped on her mistress' shoulder.

"Where is Kagome-san going?" Itachi asked absently the other "human" male of their group. Miroku gave a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"It is complicated..." Shippou didn't feel the same inhibitions as Miroku about spilling Kagome's secrets to everyone, for the fox-boy jumped to Itachi's shoulder, and started to prance about Kagome's home.

"She says she's from the future!" Started the fox, to Miroku's complete chagrin. "You know the well where we found you?" Itachi never gave an answer, as Shippou never waited for one. "Yeah, there! Well, that well is actually a passage to Kagome's time, you know?" No, he didn't... Itachi's breath hitched in chock.

A time passage?

It's been a while since he wondered about "How" he'd return home, but now some more pieces were being discovered and arranged to their place. Kagome's home was the future, his home another dimension... both of them came here through that well, even if the one who sent him here was Sasuke via the Mangekyou's Dimension-warp jutsu.

Now he had his "How".

That well.

His chest constricted with some unknown emotion as he thought about going back to the shinobi nations, going back to Akatsuki, to trying to capture Naturo-the-Jinchuuriki, and dying by the hands of his lovely younger brother. Thinking like this, his life wasn't that cheery anyway. But it was his home, the place where he was born... he should find a way to return to it - the key being that old, dried up well - but he found he felt hesitant to do so.

"Are you alright, Itachi?" Shippou's voice broke him out of his musings. The fox-kid's face was right in front of his, and he could see every aspect of green inside the small demon's eyes. Small freckles on the cheeks, and the concerned tilt of his auburn colored eyebrow.

"Hn" Itachi grunted. Closing his eyes again, and willing all those uncomfortable emotions to go back to the pit from where they came from. For now he was a man with a duty - protect Kagome, who saved his life - and then, when the Jewel was complete - resulting on Kagome being safe again - he would go home, and never think of this adventure again.

If only it was as easy as it sounded.

"Itachi-sama... I never thought to ask you before, but now I'm curious" Miroku admitted with a little hesitation. Shippou tilted his head to the side, and was staring at the monk along with a barely interested Itachi. "Where do you come from?" Itachi didn't know if it was because of the companionship, or because he had a fox-kid perched on his shoulder, or because that weren't ninjas in these lands that knew of him, he decided to give, gracefully, an answer to Miroku's wonderings.

"From another world..." Gasps could be heard from the two males around him. "My brother sent me here using a more potent form of the sharingan" For dramatics sake, Itachi activated his sharingan, and then watched in dark satisfaction the faces of Miroku and Shippou morph to one of awe when he turned the Mangekyou on. "When I first came here, I found myself inside the well..."

Miroku blinked slowly.

The thing that followed was a string of questioning, more on Shippou's part, about the world he came from.

"It is very violent, a lot like this one in a sense" He pondered on what to say. "We have numerous countries, some are controlled by a Daimyo" Miroku raised an eyebrow.

"We have Daimyos as well, though, usually their power is restricted to their feuds or village, or both" The monk commented. Itachi stored that information away, it could be proven useful in the future - actually, he stored everything he heard... you never know your future now, do you?

"There are the main five countries, the most powerful and influentional ones, Fire (Hi), Wind (Kaze), Earth (Tsuchi), Water (Mizu) and Thunder (Rai). These five countries have a second power system, made by their Shinobi society" Itachi crouched down so that his hands could draw on the soft earth, a map of the elemental nations. Shippou looked a little bored, perhaps he wasn't much into history/geography lessons? but Miroku seemed to be enjoying himself. "These Shinobi societies are concentrated on each country's hidden shinobi village. Hidden village in the Leaf (Konoha), Sand (Suna), Stone (Ichi), Mist (Kiri) and Cloud (Kumo)" He finished with each village's symbol drew on his "map".

"That small swirling one, of the hidden leaf village, is it the same one in your band?" Miroku asked curiously, glancing between Itachi's scratched head-band and konoha's symbol. The black haired shinobi blinked a little, before his eyes too were drawn to the Fire Country.

"Yes... I was originally from Konoha, Fire country" Itachi admitted, willing the heaviness he felt inside not to transmit on his voice. He must have been successful - or Miroku decided to ignore - for the monk nodded thoughtfully, still staring at the head-band... One of the only things Itachi still had... It was now securely tied around his neck with a new cloth material - but the same metal plate - because his old one was ruined as well as his other, Akatsuki attire.

Now he was questioning the sanity - or lack of it thereof - of telling the monk about his origins... He felt they wouldn't trust him as much if they knew what he did for a living.

"Amazing" Miroku breathed, breaking their silent spell. Shippou nodded too, just to look like he understood.

"Hn" smirked the ninja. He wasn't over - he started it, he should go till the end now. "Each hidden village has their own inner political system though, the biggest five, like Konoha, have their own Kage, the strongest ninja in the village. Kages are chosen by a council, and act as a leader figure. There are the Hokage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Mizukage and Raikage" Here he was, telling these people about things he learned in the academy. And so he went on for the rest of the afternoon, not even pausing when Sango joined them back, with Kagome lacking, and Inuyasha decided he wanted to hear more about their strange ninja boy.

And for the second time ever since he came to this world, he felt really home-sick.

XxxxXxxxX

Hoho~ end of chapter 8! I didn't like this chapter much.. I wanted to put Kagura in it... but then, it ran away from me! I swear this chapter wrote itself! A pineable pie to whoever leaves a review!


	9. 9: Soul Stealer

AN: Sorry about the delay! (again). I can't put my hands on my computer everyday, and days like Sunday are worst, since a horde of friends (always on sundays T.T) decided to invade my home and eat my snacks... my precious junk food! ToT. Now I'll have to buy more Nuttela, strawberry jam and brigadeiro (a sweet made of milk and chocolate)... perhaps some chips too... hmmm :9

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: A little down side to having half a soul that Itachi just found out.

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

9: **Soul Stealer**.

For the two days Kagome've been away, Itachi felt like he had nothing to do. Of course, he had numerous things to do... but the feeling of being bored escalated out of proportions.

"No, concentrate on your inner energy, on your chakra" He was now instructing Sango on how to use the limited amount of chakra she had. She'd never be able to be a true chakra-user though, because she was underdeveloped in that sense. When he told her just that, she tried to pound him with her big-bad-battle boomerang. Of course she missed - badly - but it was the thought that counted.

By the end of the day, he managed to get her to raise her chakra to the surface through the weak and narrow pathways, using his sharingan to point her through the "concentrate on that specific point" problem. She did summon a little amount of chakra, not even enough for a bunshin, but with time and the right training, Itachi could raise that small amount and sharp Sango's chakra control over it, to have her perform low class basic jutsus, like Substitution and a clone or two.

"Its hard!" Sango gasped, breathing hard. Yes, she could now summon her chakra to the surface, but it didn't mean, by all, that it was easy. She didn't have the same amount of chakra Itachi did, or the developed chakra path-ways - as Itachi "kindly" pointed out - necessary to make that task easier... so she had to struggle.

Though, it would become an useful tool if she could make a clone, intangible as it is, to fool her enemies.

"Keep on focusing it to your skin" Itachi instructed patiently. It was a way to kill his boredom.

Inuyasha was watching from a nearby three, sneering all the time... It seemed that Itachi wasn't the sole victim of Kagome's absence. Inuyasha's mood darkened gradually as the days went through.

But then something strange happened. Inuyasha's sneer transformed slowly into a blank mask. His rosy nose rose up to the air and the half-dog demon took a delicate sniff. Golden yellow eyes shifting to the stationary form of Itachi, who was still pretending to be lecturing Sango.

With a mighty leap, Inuyasha was out of his three and trekking into the forest. Itachi blinked after the red clad figure - Sango wasn't as discrete.

"He's off to see her again" The demon slayer mumbled irritated. It took milliseconds for Itachi to understand who was this "she" Sango talked about - And it took only another millisecond for the shinobi to remember his contempt to "her".

He glared at the direction Inuyasha had run to. Though, he had a glaring partner, as Sango's incensed eyes seemed to burn even more than his - non sharingan - ones.

Briefly, only as a passing though, Itachi entertained the motion of going after the half-demon, and meeting face to face with the woman who had half of Kagome's soul and Inuyasha's heart. He absolutely felt displeasure about her, mostly because of Kagome's sake - He was broken off of his semi-day dream by a snort.

"So you felt it too?" Miroku's voice came from a little ways behind them. The monk's been there sharpening his staff for some time now, and only stopped his chore to leer lecherously to Sango's rear, so intently it was like he was committing to memory her shapely curves. Itachi wondered more than one time, how Miroku would react to the Icha-Icha Paradise book series. Kisame was/is a fervent fan. Even if his blue partner had to fight Jiraiya on more than one occasion because of the Kyuubi's brat.

Kisame reluctantly did so.

And it helped that Itachi hesitated to kill Konoha shinobis... OK, he never ever thought of harming his ex-compatriots, even if they tried to kill him, maim him, arrest him, knock him down - and all sorts of bodily/mental harm - Itachi still thought of himself as a loyal Konoha shinobi in the deepest part of his being... It was drilled upon him the moment he got to ANBU. "Keep your mouth shut! don't spill secrets even under torture! Protect Konoha by all costs! Your life is nothing if the village is in the line" Stuff like that.

Idly he wondered too, if that wasn't the cause for so many ANBU's units being killed on a weekly base... ANBU were killed like peons on a gaming board... It was kind of sad, really.

"Yeah... I felt when those nasty little things begun circling around the forest" Sango replied to Miroku's half question. What are they talking about? He didn't feel anything different, aside from noticing Inuyasha's strange antics before said hanyou took off.

Almost as if reading the confusion on his carefully poker-blank expression, Miroku shook his shoulder blades to take off the stiffness from being sat down for so long, and explained.

"You heard of Kikiyou, Itachi-sama?" Miroku's purple eyes were shadowed, as if he was thinking something unpleasant.

"Yes, I may have" Itachi nodded, his voice grave and emotionless. Sango's lips curled as she sneered at a nearby, innocent three.

"She can't survive with only that fraction of Kagome-sama's soul, she's unstable, and will crumble easily... so she's made a pact with some lower spiritual demons - Ayakashi - that she can control, using a miko' skill to create shikigamis... She uses those to steal recently deceased maiden' souls, and fuse them into her own body, so that the souls' energy sustain her instead of a whole soul for herself" The monk sighed deeply. It shouldn't be humanly possible for something like that to happen... simply putting things, that woman was a soul eating zombie - kind of reminded him of Orochimaru's body switching pastime.

The shinobi shuddered… thinking about Orochimaru and comparing him to Kikiyou.

Itachi felt sickened to the pit of his stomach, and thanked whoever god was out there that he didn't have breakfast this morning, wanting to burn some energy, least he gained fat - which would make him slower and less aerodynamic - and he wouldn't admit to being a health freak, ever.

He purposely blocked some childhood memories of him pouting under his mother's stare, as he refused to eat anything but sweets...

"So what you felt..." He asked instead of pouting outwardly. Though he truly wanted to know how they detected Kikiyou. He left the sentence hanging for the sake of it.

"The souls her Shikigamis are carrying" Miroku answered haughtily Sango nodded.

"I wish to learn how to detect such things" Itachi asked/imposed with a raised eyebrow. It would be an useful skill, to be able to detect a soul... or so he thought at the time. But Sango smiled at him gracefully.

"Of course! I'm not good with it though, Houshi-sama is be a better teacher" Sango motioned to Miroku's beaming form, all dark thoughts involving innocents' souls being lost forever in the stomach of a zombie miko, seemingly forgotten.

"I'd be happy to teach you open your mind to the supernatural!" Miroku was still smiling brightly. "With those eyes of yours, it should be a fairly easy task for you to accomplish, Itachi-sama"

"Hn" And so he kept with Sango's lessons, though the three humans were still a little bit tense about the situation, seeing as once or twice, a tubular, white/light blue semi transparent, dragon-like creature would cross the sky, carrying in their tiny claws, a pulsing white globe. A soul.

Thankfully Itachi couldn't see them without his sharingan eyes... yet.

XxxxXxxxX

More of a filler-because-the-story-is-almost-done chapter than anything else~ x.x A big, fist-sized brigadeiro to everyone who leaves a review!


	10. 10: Weasel x dog

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: A little friendly... discussion.

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

10: **Weasel x dog**.

Itachi was never one for philosophical thinking, though, now lost in these strange lands, he had more time to ponder on life's mysteries. Like the fact that his health did one-eighty degree turn - from almost blind - now he exulted in his new find life.

He didn't want to forget his old one though - Sasuke still occupied great deal of what his being meant to be - his baby brother, whom had been the only person Itachi truly loved - in a sibling kind of way. Sasuke, the person who had used a forbidden, forgotten, jutsu on him just to see him gone.

What happened to Sasuke then?

From the slight widening of his brother's eyes when Itachi told him that he was sorry - and what the elder Uchiha knew of Sasuke, Itachi would put money on Sasuke's avenger obsession being turned against Konoha, which is exactly what Madara wants – after said Madara spill every dark little secret to Sasuke.

The shinobi swallowed thickly.

"An apple for your thoughts" He felt Sango's approaching form, but thought nothing of it, since Sango, Miroku and Shippou came and went as they pleased. Right now, Itachi was perched on top of Kaede's hut watching the seemingly endless blue sky above them.

Konoha's sky never been as blue on his point of view.

"My little brother and the mistakes he's bound to commit" Itachi replied to the long haired woman. They had some sort of grudging - on Sango's part - almost friendship going on between them. In which Itachi respected Sango's drive and her fighting spirit, and Sango respected... well... What was there not to respect? - And when he made the what-is-there-not-to-respect Uchiha patented blank face, the time Sango confessed he was not "as bad" as she thought, she tried to pound him with her big-bad-battle boomerang.

"I understand that" Sango mumbled quietly to the shinobi, staring up at him - he was still on the hut's roof - Itachi felt she was about to spill her heart at him though, so he remained silent. "My brother, Kohaku... he murdered all of our family... At the time, he was being controlled by Naraku" She curled her fists in hatred "But I can't bear to think of my little brother in pain... you know? He's dead... but is only able to keep in the living world because of a cursed jewel shard Naraku has in Kohaku's back" Warm brown eyes became soddy.

"I don't know who owns an apple to whom now" Itachi commented, voice devoid of any emotion as he regarded with guarded black eyes the forlorn form of the demon slayer. Sango blinked back some droplets of tears, and tried her best to smile - a watery smile that didn't reach her eyes. But even though he pretended not to be affected by her words, her heart reached up to him and he embraced her pain.

Sango knew that also.

Even if he wasn't going to spill his sad-morbid-depressing life story to her any time soon.

"I owe you an apple" Sango replied to his not-as-much-as-teasing words, opening the wide curve of her pink kimono's sleeve, she took an apple out of it. Itachi caught it when she threw it at him. "Thank you for listening to me" the demon slayer used her hands to shed her eyes from the sun, and waved with the other to Itachi. "If it interests you, Kagome-chan will be back today" Ah, magical words!

Itachi was out of that roof with a leap, landing on his feet a few steps away from Sango - who jumped in fright at the sudden movement - but then proceeded to smile from ear to ear, a knowing smile that would make Miroku proud - all her pain forgotten.

"The dried well by the forest named after the dobe" Sango nodded, without knowing what to say, only the twinkling in her - still moisten - eyes showing the mirth she felt at hearing Inuyasha being called a "dobe".

"Yes, Inuyasha's forest..." Sango confirmed unnecessarily, for when the first syllabi was out of her mouth, Itachi was already half-way across the village, then out of it, then on to the well's location.

"He sure has a lot of energy, doesn't he?" Sango jumped, scared, the second time for that day, when Miroku's voice filled the awkward silence left by herself when Itachi left. So lost in it, she didn't notice when the monk approached and started to talk, startling her.

"Agh! Houshi-sama!" Cried the demon-slayer, deciding then and there, that Miroku would be a perfect outlet for her frustrations. Her fiancée had to get used to her PMS-ing every month now, if he wanted to stay healthy anyway. So with a wicked smile, she turned to Miroku...

Itachi heard his screeching pleas for pity all ways across the valley.

But he had more important things to worry about than the monk's body's integrity at the moment.

Like the fact that the was close to the well. And that he wasn't alone in his pursuit for the priestess - for sitting there, all innocent looking, was Inuyasha - no doubt waiting for Kagome as well.

"Feh! Looks who is here" Inuyasha spat his greetings along with a great deal of poison. Not that the hanyou hid his unfriendliness to Itachi, it was a deeper, territorial thing - the dog didn't want Itachi preaching in his property - thank whatever god was out there that Itachi wasn't a dog as well.

"If you so desire, I can rectify that and make sure you can't see at all" was the darkly whispered answer to Inuyasha's greeting. The half-demon shuddered when an particularly icy wind hit his skin, and for dramatic sake really, Itachi stopped moving, standing there staring emotionlessly at Inuyasha's head. His hands at his sides, his back straight and his legs a few inches apart.

Itachi's favorite attacking position. Thankfully he never stopped his special shinobi training, so he was still as honed as ever... if not more, since he had more time to train... to Inuyasha's ultimate displeasure of course.

"I want to see you try! teme!" silver haired and dog eared boy jumped to his feet, and bailed his fists at Itachi's face. The barking dog doing nothing to scare even one of Itachi's beauty marks - he had one or two scattered at his back - so the shinobi remained immobile, watching Inuyasha's display.

"Don't want to waste my time on you, dobe" the elder Uchiha smirked, a solely used Uchiha smirk - the I-shall-not-waste-more-of-my-time-with-you smirk - the two lines under his eyes curving upward as he used his cheek's muscles to smirk. How rare is that?

"Damn weasel!" Itachi blinked at that jab. Inuyasha was cursing weasels under his breath now.

"Hn, mutt" This time, Inuyasha was the one to blink - cutting off his string of weasel-cursing in favor of staring disbelievingly at the black haired, black eyed shinobi. As if the fact that Itachi called him a "mutt" was something unthinkable.

After a few, dramatic seconds, in which none of them spoke a word or did a thing, Inuyasha took it upon himself - being the one with the shorter fuse - to march up Itachi's face.

Using a finger, Inuyasha was close to do the humiliating-chest-pocking-while-babbling-and-spewing-on-your-face, when Itachi, predicting what the red clad half-demon was about to do, decided to use a sole finger too to prove a point.

At the end of their confrontation, Inuyasha had a red, fingertip-shaped-bruise on his forehead, while Itachi had a satisfied look around him, even if he seemed to be as emotionless as ever.

That was the scene Kagome came to.

"Umm... Itachi-kun, Inuyasha...?" The black haired priestess blinked confusedly, glancing between the two parties. "What happened?" Again, Inuyasha was the first to launch on one epic, totally faked tale of how Itachi was a bastard - Itachi knew, for a fact, that he wasn't a "bastard" thankyouverymuch.

"That bastard" see? And that's all explanation would be limited to.

"I came here to escort you back to the village, Kagome-sama" Itachi bowed his head respectfully. Fully aware of angry golden eyes digging holes at the back of his head.

"Thank you, Itachi-kun!" Kagome smiled at him, adjusting that monstrous yellow back-pack on her shoulder. "C'mon, Inuyasha!" She called to the silver haired hanyou, turning to Itachi with that same smile on her face. "Let's go, Itachi-kun!" Itachi complied.

The word - whipped - flashing through his mind though, as he noticed Inuyasha's sulking form following behind Kagome.

Unknowingly to him, since he couldn't read minds, Inuyasha had something similar going through his head.

Inuyasha's POV

Hunf... that bastard is w-h-i-p-p-e-d! Serves him well!

XxxxXxxxX

have you ever had problems with your hair? I did... and I also heard that reviews were good for hair well care~! hehe o/


	11. 11: Complete day

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: What makes a day complete?

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

XxxxXxxxX

11: **Complete day**. (special filler dedicated to _Gothic Lust_ who gave me the plot bunny for this chapter!)

Itachi was profusely enjoying his day. The sun was shining happily up in the sky, there were a few fluffy white clouds hanging up there, and a few birds – and some birds _demons_ – were singing merrily – or crowing fearfully – at the beautiful day.

Plus, he had Kagome by his side.

Day aside, he was having a great time, really. He couldn't remember just when he had this much fun.

Actually… he could remember having _this_ much fun once… or twice… and it all involved being there to see Sasuke flushed in his clumsiness, as when his _baby_ brother would wet his bed, and come crawling, blushing and smelling, to Itachi's bed, seeking dryness and comfort – and to avoid being in their father's war-path when/if he learned Sasuke had no control over his bladder.

At those nights, Itachi simply huffed in annoyance at having his resting time deprived from him – he was a ninja in training, and at age 8, was about to leave the academy. Sasuke was three years old then – But the young boy embraced his brother under the protection of his bundle of sheets – he always had them washed the next morning… Sasuke wasn't old enough to clean himself properly…

After Sasuke calmed down enough to confess his dilemma, Itachi would raise from his futon and pad through the darkness of his room easily, reach his closet and fish some clean shirt and shorts. Then he would pick Sasuke up by the back of the boy's shirt, and drag him gently to their bathroom, where the young Itachi scrubbed thoughtfully the piercing smell out of Sasuke. At least by that age, Sasuke knew how to walk _properly_ and get dressed by himself, so Itachi would toss the naked, shivering boy some clothes a few sizes too big for Sasuke, and be done with it – though, Sasuke followed after him every time, and slept throughout the night beside his amused brother.

Itachi had fun then, the next mornings, teasing Sasuke to no end. The smiles and smirks and grins he gave his baby brother a distant memory, but ones that drove him forward when all hope was lost, and he only had the sanctuary of his own mind. He had never, _ever_ wanted for Sasuke what happened to him.

But right now, there was no time to reminisce about the past, and even less time to few sorry about it…

"Insolent brat!" The man/akuma snarled, swinging his arms downward to try and chop Itachi's head. The shinobi deflected the bow with his ANBU-like katana, cutting off the man's hand in the process. Only to grimace – internally – when the hand grew back with a sickening _slurp_.

"Hah! Can't even cut him right! Weasel!" Inuyasha taunted from behind the ninja, Tetsusaiga transformed and ready for action. Inuyasha jumped over Itachi, and used his Kaze no Kizu on the enemy. Sango helped Miroku to his feet, as there were a few buzzing sounds around them, signing the presence of those hell wasps. Unfortunately, Miroku hadn't notice them until he sucked in a couple.

His outing off the battle caused trouble, for their enemy could heal and regenerate and an insanely fast pace.

The man screamed in pain for a few seconds after Inuyasha's attack, before that scream of pain transformed into crazed peals of laugher. Kirara hissed in her big-bad-battle cat form. Sango leaned Miroku down on Kiraka's shoulder, while she holstered Hiraikotsu to throw it again.

"That bastard Naraku!" Inuyasha cussed under his breath "He reeks of Naraku!" And that was the cue for Sango's face to tighten and Miroku's to sour. Kagome knotted another arrow to her bow, and fired at the man's chest area.

"You think you can harm Mayoukimaru?" This particular Naraku's creation – as Inuyasha implied – had long purple hair, bone white skin and pulsing red eyes… and no eyebrows. Sharp and long rows of teeth gleamed when the man/akuma opened his mouth to spill some blood, as Kagome's arrow pierced him right where his heart should be, and her holly powers made his flesh implode from the inside out.

"Bitch!" Mayoukimaru growled truly well for one not related to dogs – and calling her _as if she were a dog as well_ - and focused his eerily glowing eyes on Kagome's figure, as her holly powers-induced-injuries were proving to be harder to heal than Itachi's or Inuyasha's attack. "I only came here to retrieve that man-" He pointed to Itachi "-But now I'll kill you!" The group seemed to raise a collective eyebrow at his statement.

Though, Itachi had his twitching a little. Inuyasha saved him from inquiring _why_ – Naraku, he supposed – wanted him.

"What the hell Naraku wants with the weasel!" And Itachi wouldn't have asked as poetically as Inuyasha did.

After a long, draw out laugh, Mayoukimaru shook his head, as if thinking the answer was obvious, but being the big-bad-battle villain he was, he answered Inuyasha – and everyone else's – question.

"Naraku wants his powers!" Mayoukimaru smirked. Pointy teeth and all. "He will join us and be one with Naraku!" Itachi had the urge to gag.

Was another power-hungry-megalomaniac-body-switching-psychopath wanting his _body? Again?_ Orochimaru wasn't enough?

"The hell he will!" Inuyasha yet again saved Itachi from having to open his mouth. Tetsusaiga started to pulse fiercely, Kagome came to stand beside Itachi yet again.

"Let Inuyasha deal with him" Kagome asked pleasantly. Itachi nodded uncertain at her request. Miroku and Sango both nodded grimly in acceptation.

"Fine" Agreed the ninja, watching with mild interest as Inuyasha obliterated Mayoukimaru with a super-powered attack of his father's fang.

"Tsc… too easy" Inuyasha grouched, leaning against his sword and breathing hard.

"Truly was" Itachi commented, with his emotionless and heavy voice, dusting his cloths from imaginary dirt just to spite Inuyasha. Said half-demon only growled in response. "I wonder why it took too long…" That little, tiny, almost invisible to _human_ eyes twitch of Itachi's lips was enough to Inuyasha.

"One day I'll kill you! Weasel!"

"And I'd like to see you try, mutt"

And then a strange and suspicious whirlwind came bursting through the trees, Inuyasha's growls grew in volume and intensity as the wind subsided and revealed a black-haired, blue-eyed, fur-wearing, pointy-eared man.

"Who just spoke about killing the mutt?" Asked the man with a lilt to his voice. Then his sky blue eyes settled on Kagome, and after the softening of his face, and the figurative hearts dancing in his eyes. Itachi's own black ones narrowed suspiciously.

Why would that man be there? By the description Miroku gave him, Itachi recognized the man as to who he is suppose to be – Kouga, the wolf demon prince – and as an additional note, Miroku had remarked, with a very, _very _suspicious light in his eyes, about Kouga's little obsession with Kagome…

Second only to Kouga's obsession of killing Naraku – which would explain why the wild wolf prince was here in the first place – he musy have had tracked Mayoukimaru' scent.

Enough was said that when Itachi's hand hid behind his back, a few seconds before the newcomer pounded on Kagome's general direction, and the man had Kagome tightly pinned against his chest, "Kagome, how is that mutt treating my woman?" the object of his affections smiled sweetly, slowly, eyes shining and cheeks dimpling, just before exploding…

Inuyasha stoped mid word, blinked a little, and then fell to the ground rolling around, barking laugh non-stop, not even to breath.

The man, whose face was blackened because of the low-scale explosion had this ticked expression on, and turned furious eyes to Inuyasha's direction.

"What are you laughing at mutt? What did you do to Kagome?" Inuyasha stopped his snorts, enough to answer politely.

"Don't know, don't care, Kouga" He knew that the exploding-kagome was Itachi's job, and for the first time ever since accepting the ninja into his pack, Inuyasha was half-glad to have him with them…

Far above them, on top of a tree, Kagome watched, from the fair safety of Itachi's arm, as Kouga pounded on Inuyasha and the both of them started to fist fight. She sighed tiredly and smiled hesitantly to Itachi.

"Thank you for saving me the trouble" Itachi nodded, it wasn't trouble at all… now, if only he had a Mitarashi Dango stick with him right now, his day would be truly complete. "Now let's stop them before they seriously hurt themselves" Actually, that would make his day _perfect_, but the ninja nodded, sprinting down to the ground with Kagome, who already had her mouth opened and screaming at the two canines…

XxxxXxxxX

Hyaah~! Oooh, I'm so happy at having reached this far! I wouldn't have managed without the support of all of you! :)  
A... a... Nuttella cake to those who leave me a review! I'm a good cook, hoho~! o/


	12. 12: Final?

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: What makes a day complete?

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

12: **Final?**

Itachi's been within this world for so long - eight months - that he felt at home already. He had gained a lot of experience on the subject of demons - for survival sake - and even though Inuyasha hated his gut, the hanyou is a trustful ally.

He learned how to harvest some of his more latent youki and with certain amount of training, he could now infuse his jutsu with this demonic ki, making them stronger... he also learned that the sharingan worked marvelously well with youki, and since his body had some natural resistance to it, because of his diluted blood, the strain his vision went through wasn't so serious, as to damage his eye sight...

Why haven't he thought of this before?

More important yet... do Madara even know of this?

It is a well known fact to the Uchiha clan, that although Madara was one of Konoha's founders, and one of the most powerful shinobi to ever come out of their family, he wasn't the first Uchiha. He didn't start the line... Madara just ensured the Uchiha clan loyalty to Konoha, and even that was temporary, as his clan was planning on a takeover because of what the others did to Madara.

Damn bastard.

So the origins to his demonic blood remained a mystery.

He taught this group a lot of things as well...

Sango was a very good student, and even if she could not develop her chakra path way much more than it was already, she caught on rather quickly on some basic jutsus. Her chakra control was also good, since she's been using it to be able to carry and launch that big-bad-battle boomerang of hers for a long time. With some improvements however, now the demon slayer woman could do some basic ninjutsu - like kawarimi and bunshin - that did not require much chakra. She hasn't grasped on Henge yet, but with Shippou's help, she would very soon.

Shippou was fairly happy to be able to help with something. He, like most of his kind, had a pert up for illusions. There was nothing he could do for the young demon boy in such a short amount of time, but could help Shippou with his illusions techniques, which seemed to be enough for the boy.

Miroku was a good conversation partner. He had very long discussions with the monk. Mind opening lessons from the perverted monk left Itachi with a better idea of what to expect of this world, and it also left him with an unexplainable desire to burn all copies of "Icha-Icha Paradise" he'd come to - if he ever came back to his own world that is - all in all, the monk also taught him about spiritual awareness, and cheating a few things using his sharingan, Itachi tackled that very well. Being the genius he is, in a few weeks, Itachi was able to pint-point a few energies. The one he had most trouble with, so far, was the Shikon no Tama's own aura.

Kagome was the only one able to see its aura, it seemed.

To make things easier for him, he made a map of their immediate area in his mind, using a bit of chakra. Then expand his awareness of physical beings, to include spiritual essences and farther located chakra sources, thus enlarging his radar somewhat - He was now a proud living-chakra-radar, without using his sharingan - somewhat - to boost.

His need to protect Kagome, the one who saved his condemned life, had to be tested a lot of times during these months. Inuyasha did a fairly poor job protecting the girl, although Kagome could avoid confrontations if she so wanted - or just purify to ashes any demon that came too close - but human enemies were harder for her to overcome, with her limited physical strength and lack of active combat skill. She was a trained priestess, for support purposes - as her bow-and-arrows suggested - not a field combatant like Sango.

Though, he tried to teach the priestess some hand-to-hand, a basic style everyone learned at the Academy. Kagome completely sucked at it though, she managed to pick one or two things and now was a – what was that word she used again? Something foreign – Krav-magah expert…

She was also, irritatingly enough, the favorite target for all sort of things - possessions, assassinations, kidnappings - and those were of the worst kind. Be it because she was the one who carried their shards of the Four Souls Jewel, or because as stated earlier, she was a support character. So it was all up to Itachi to be her fighter and her rescuer.

Not that he complained.

Inuyasha though, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

But the hanyou showed all his prowess when they had to take down their nemesis, for the last battle over the jewel.

It was a bloody little battle, but at the end, after one Katon jutsu or three, and the help of an army of exploding clones - courtesy of him - wave after wave of Wind Scars - by Inuyasha - a rain of purifying arrows - Kikiyou and Kagome went all out - a big-bad-battle boomerang attack - Sango did it - mean warping paper stickers - Miroku did his best with purifying sutras - and least but not last, Sesshoumaru showed just how much he was better off without the Tetsusaiga, using his Tenseiga to tear reality and toss half of Naraku's minions through it directly to hell.

Naraku, being the little insect that he is, struggled to get his greedy hands on Kagome - and the jewel - but when he got to her, she exploded in his face... real Kagome couldn't help but giggle as she was safely tucked with another clone. Kikiyou narrowed her eyes on the ninja.

Then it hit Itachi, they never really talked face to face, he and Kikiyou... and he wasn't about to start now... though he did notice how much Kagome resembled the other woman.

"That was reckless" Kikiyou commented with an even voice. Her mask of indifference just like Itachi's.

"It wasn't" Itachi retorqued to her. Ignoring Kikiyou, he caught Kagome in his arms, and jumped away just in time a stray tentacle crashed on his prior location. Kikiyou stumbled a little but remained on her feet. dark brown eyes locked on Itachi's form. Then realization made her eyes widen.

"You know she loves Inuyasha" She spoke calmly to the shinobi, ignoring that around her was occurring a battle for the future of these lands.

"Don't see why I should care" And that short exchanged words proved to Itachi what he "missed" by never speaking to her before.

"Why are you discussing me when I'm right here?" Ah, the undignified cry from his arms. Itachi spared his charge a glance, before settling her on her feet. Kagome wasted no time to hook another arrow to her bow, and fire it away, hitting one of Naraku' squirming limbs. "Well?" She turned to Itachi with a flushed face.

Kikiyou was long gone by now... Itachi dreaded over what to say to Kagome.

"Hey! teme! Move it!" Inuyasha interrupted Itachi's train of thought, as said hanyou came flying, then landing between Itachi and Kagome. "Isn't Naraku enough of for you?" The hanyou huffed, jumping to his feet and swinging the Tetsusaiga around his arms. "Kagome's stupid as it is! you don't need to distract her!" This earned another fury cry from Kagome, as she stomped her food angrily.

"Don't talk about me as if I'm not around! And Inuyasha! I'm not stupid! Osuwari!" It ended rather well on Itachi's end, since Kagome's rage had been redirected to Inuyasha.

Itachi's signed jutsu broke them out of their glaring contest.

"Katon: Goukyaku no jutsu!" The shinobi inhaled air through his nose, puffing his chest at its max, then let go of his inflamed breath. Orange flames licked the air, before flambéing an array of tentacles that have crawled a little too close. The ground was left smoking morbidly, with a pile of ashes to tell the tale.

"Tsc" Inuyasha mumbled, running to join his brother on the who-can-cut-more-parts-out-of-Naraku-wins competition. Sesshoumaru gladly accepted.

"Itachi-kun! Watch out!" Kagome cried, worriedly running toward him with her limited speed. Itachi blinked confusedly as to why the girl was so worked up, when he felt it.

The wind shifted at his back, signaling that something was rapidly approaching him from behind.

The shinobi jumped, doing a back flip, just in time to avoid being be-headed by an air-blade. Kagome was puffing for breath when she reached him them.

"A-are you ok?" She asked unnecessarily. Itachi shrugged, then lifted his arm to defend her against another wind blade. This one got him. Since he wouldn't dodge it since it would have then hit Kagome.

The skin of his arm was ripped in two till the bone. A giant gash along his forearm that was bleeding profusely. The pain registered to him, but he did his best to push it at the back of his head – and also had the misfortune of picturing what that attack would have done to Kagome's head.

His heart stopped right then.

"I missed, huh?" A sultry, low voice purred from above them. Kagome's eyes were locked on Itachi's bleeding arm, and she had tears running down her face. The shinobi had his eyes on the female figure perched on a white feather, floating unnaturally a few feet above them. "I won't miss next time!" She screeched.

It was one hell of a bloody battle.

The crazy woman on the – neat – floating feather used a damned fan to make the air ripple, and send uncountable wind-blades toward them. Itachi shielded Kagome the best he could, and then popped out of existence, making the red-eyed woman blink confusedly – then snarl in rage.

She sent another wave of blades, that tore Kagome to pieces. She was about to smile victoriously, when a great fire ball crashed into her – she jumped away just in time, though her feather was barbequed. Turning her head, she noticed the bloody "kagome" too poof away in a cloud of smoke.

"Attack her wasn't very wise" A rough, low voice said directly to her ear when she landed on the ground. Itachi was holding the woman by the neck, about to snap it, when she chuckled darkly and flickered her wrist.

A low rumble went through the air. The woman used her elbow to hit Itachi in the ribs. The ninja let go of her, watching with mild curiosity as an army of about 50 bodies rose from the ground, digging the earth to free their way out.

His annoyance level was pretty high by now. Dealing with corpses was not on his to-do list, which consisted of _nothing_ really… but it was still unpleasant anyway.

"Now you will die! And I will be free!" The woman rattled with a cackle of glee. Itachi was seriously starting to doubt her sanity – and also wondering if he looked as insane as she when he babbled insanely to Sasuke, about stealing his eyes… nah… probably not…

"Lets see about that" Itachi muttered, smirking when the army of zombies was covered with earth, that solidified and formed some sort of cocoon around the corpses. Like huge clay dolls.

He dutifully activated his Sharingan eyes to their ultimate level, the Mangekyou.

"Amaterasu!" His left eye twitched slightly at the strain, but nothing too drastic. Like when you stay up too late and you can't focus anymore – an improvement from when his eyes bled from the justu he used.

He focused on the army of earth-covered-zombies, and the black and white flames erupted over them. Screeches could be heard, but were soon silenced by the fire that consumed its target for seven days, or until the "target" ceased to exist.

The woman had a look of pure fury dancing on her eyes. She raised her hands and threw them down, making a wave and cutting wind come at his direction, hitting him on the chest and shoulder area.

Pieces of him started to fall… becoming black blobs of mass, and then black crows that flew around his "legs" then formed his upper body again. Glowing red eyes on the wind-bending woman, as she panicked.

"That's not possible!" She cried, fleeing away from him, taking another clip out of her hair and launching it to the air… Itachi briefly wondered what it was supposed to do – perhaps create another flying feather? – but her plans were frustrated the moment she was caught in Itachi's Genjutsu.

"Going somewhere?" He asked her huskily, appearing over her, seemingly walking on air.

"Y-you monster!" She recoiled in fear. Itachi shook his head... Raised a hand and stabbed her through the heart with his ANBU-like katana.

And then ended the illusion. Making the woman's body fall lifelessly to the ground.

"Itachi-kun!" Kagome came running toward him, with a grimace of exertion on her face. "Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha took down Naraku…" The girl announced, grinning tiredly then. Itachi nodded to the bloody form of the girl he swore to protect – even if most of that blood was his – and had an epiphany.

He, Itachi, felt something for this girl… The shinobi blinked a few times to get rid of the shock that followed so deep revelations – and the problems it would cause Kagome… Since he planned on not being shut about it this time – what with the liberty to go all out with his emotions, and then suppressing them again because fear of being rejected?

Pffff, as if!

Plus, he'd make Kagome like him back… he's a geniusly evil plotter, his plots were known to work – at least Sasuke's plots to a degree – not that he counted his loses… And if his people analyzing skills – he picked that in ANBU – were of any indication, the object of his newly found affections – he had a chagrined face as he thought this – felt something for him back.

Then there is the fact that he has yet to decide what to do with his future.

He can go back to his world, to Sasuke, to fighting to keep his younger foolish little brother from doing something stupid, say – like forming a group of nuke-nin named something corny, say – like Taka or something, and attacking Konoha on the behalf that Itachi was wronged – assuming that Madara was the bastard Itachi knew he is, and told Sasuke all about Itachi's past.

And then again, he can also stay in this world, with Kagome – and the others – and spend the rest of his life living in this dimension.

The choice was too heavy for him to decide on a whim. Too in another whim, he decided to question Kagome about her choice, and drop it all on her…

He felt no ounce of shame because of it.

Just regret.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's bloody and beaten form came rushing toward them. For a second Itachi felt sorry for not participating in Naraku's defeat, but since he wasn't directly affected by the half demon, like Inuyasha's love life and Sesshoumaru's pride, he'd let the two dogs deal with it on their own.

Besides, he was tired of wars, and just wanted some peace – hell, he thought he was dead! Only to wake up with Kagome hovering over him… is it too much to ask for?

"Inuyasha! Are oyu ok?" Kagome returned a warm and worried smile to her hanyou friend. The silver haired half-demon boy huffed in annoyance, before smiling grimly back at the priestess.

"Far better than I've ever been" replied the hanyou, still smiling. He tossed to Kagome the half of the Shikon no Tama that was Naraku's. "Sesshoumaru took off looking for his human" Here Kagome's face softened, and Itachi idly wondered the importance of "Sesshoumaru's human". Ignoring the plain disregard for humanity in general. "Weasel took care of Kagura?" words weren't needed when Inuyasha's eyes settled on Kagura's body.

"Indeed" Itachi sneered, receiving a bashful look from Kagome, but not really paying attention…

XxxxXxxxX

We're getting to a closure! Hope it wasn't rushed... much... well... ALSO~! I don't want to end this fic now... I'm having too much fun... but I have the ending almost ready~ so I'm thinking of making a sequel/alternative ending... or more like an alternative ending that leads to a sequel~ Would you like it?


	13. 13: Weasel's circle

**Pairing**: KagomexItachi (with mentions of KagomexInuyasha) and SangoxMiroku.  
**Rating**: T  
**Chapter Summary**: The final turn to make a circle.

**The**** tales of the lost Shinobi.**

13: **Weasel's circle**.

"We have it! we have the whole jewel!" Kagome cheered, cradling in her hands the pink bauble of trouble. It was twinkling merrily under the sun, as its pink swirls of energy danced around it, in joy of being whole again.

A few hours prior, Kouga had demanded that Itachi fought him, for his honor' sake, since Kouga wanted to be the one to behead Kagura. Itachi ignored him for the most part – that is, until Kouga – with Inuyasha's blessing – tried to kick "Itachi" – only to get Itachi to explode on his face – again. Kouga gave up after that…

"And I'm free!" Miroku cried in pure happiness, as he studied his now Kazaana-free hand.

"It's not cursed anymore, huh Houshi-sama?" Sango teased lightly, but she too had a huge smile on her lips. Though, for her it must have been the hardest... since she had to fight and "kill" her younger brother... It wasn't easy for her, and the emotional strain had almost cost her life, if Miroku haven't got to her in time... But the comfort thought was that now Kohaku was free, free from his sins and the life Naraku destroyed.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that" Miroku stopped to stare at his hands in awe long enough to leer suggestively at Sango's rear. The demon slayer blushed... but then...

"Well, it better not be, Houshi-sama... when we get married, I expect no less" She announced haughtyly. Making Miroku pass out from a major nose-bleed.

"I will meditate on something" The group's attention was snapped to a person they all forgot was there – or chose to ignore – Kikiyou.

"Kikiyou…" Inuyasha called after her, the older priestess ignored the red clad hanyou, stepping inside the forest. Soon after, a few Soul Stealers were hovering above the forest where Kikiyou went. Kagome sighed in distress as her eyes followed the elder miko.

"I don't understand her…" Was the muttered comment that left Kagome's lips.

"Feh…"

Miroku then started to twitch, Sango leaned closer to him, to make sure he was alright… and was fondled… She shrieked, startled, and then slapped the "dreaming" monk so hard his head bounced off the ground.

"Houshi-sama! I'm so sorry!" Soon after she cried in alarm, crouching next to the fallen monk, and holding head.

Kagome sincerely laughed at her friends antics – Kikiyou forgotten for now. Her joyful laugh clearing away Itachi's heart. He still had many doubts about returning home, and now felt the perfect time to tell Kagome a few things about himself... if she accepted him, well... the better.

"Kagome-sama" He called lowly to her. Kagome looked at him questioningly. "We need to talk" Inuyasha huffed, but said nothing. For once the hanyou would let the weasel have his ways. He just wanted Kagome to be happy.

"Oh? Sure!" Kagome nodded. Black mass of hair in disarray. Smiling blue eyes focused on him.

"Alone" Itachi mumbled to their audience. Inuyasha begun to mutter darkly under his breath, Shippou, not missing an opportunity to mess with the hanyou, trapped the silver haired half demon under one of his enchanted rocks. Sango winked at him from her position on the ground - holding her fiancée's head so that it didn't collide with the ground – He was still out cold – though the silly, goofy smile on his face was a dead give away.

"Ok" Kagome complied to follow him into a deeper part of the forest. She trusted him to take care of her at least, Itachi breathed.

"Kagome-sama, I trust you already know this" Seeing her confused look, Itachi continued "I am not of this world" Realization made her eyes lit up.

"Yes! I heard about it" she confirmed.

"I have been thinking about ways of returning to my own world, and I believe the method is connected to your well" Kagome blinked up at him, waiting for him to elaborate. "I believe you face a similar situation..." And, as if a light was turned off, Kagome's eyes dimmed to a haughty dark blue.

"You don't know if you should return to your world, or remain here" She supplied. Itachi nodded unnecessarily.

"I'd like to hear your decision, before deciding for myself..."

"I don't understand" Kagome tilted her head to the side. Her face still tight with a sour emotion Itachi felt as well.

"Kagome" He spoke her name without the suffix. Blue eyes widened in surprise. "I need to tell you something." He gave no room for her to reply, as he held two fingers over her lips. "I am a murderer, a criminal, from where I am from... I killed my family, minus my younger brother and encouraged him to hate me... in the end, he did as I told him to, and tried to kill me, almost succeeding, if it wasn't for you" Blue eyes now were full of mixed emotions. There was confusion, a lingering fear because of his admission, pity, and something he couldn't read at all.

"Itachi..." Kagome breathed. In and out air came and went. She was trying to formulate speech without stutter. "I-I don't believe you..." The young priestess struggled to speak. "Why? Why you did it? I want to hear it all" She half asked half ordered. For a second, Itachi thought he was dealing with a fool shinobi, see what's underneath the underneath. Kagome was trying to understand him. He'd give her respect for that.

"An Order... My family was plotting overtaking my village, so the village's council ordered me, their faithful tool, to kill all of Uchiha clan..." He spoke bitterly. Kagome brought her hands to her eyes, as his words were affecting her heart. Again an unknown emotion flashed through her face. "though I followed through it all, I couldn't lay hands on my brother... I didn't have it in me to end his life... so I came to the decision to let him end mine." Tears formed on the corner of each of Kagome's eyes.

"Itachi-" His fingers pressing against her lips prevented her from saying something more.

"I made him hate me, despise me, hate me so much he made it his life's goal to kill me, to do so, he'd have to get stronger... I left Konoha soon after, and joined a criminal organization... Akatsuki..." He paused, hoping that the angst he felt about Madara didn't show in his voice "An ancestor of mine, Uchiha Madara, is behind Akatsuki... and his main goal is world domination... he wants to wake up and control the power of an ancient demonic beast, a ten-tailed monster with enough power to crack the land in two..." He didn't want to talk about capturing and locking the Bijous, and the death that awaited those who housed said beasts.

Kagome was making the best impersonation of a fish, well, a person could make. Itachi left her absorb everything he just said.

"Eventually, Sasuke ran from Konoha to join and train under another traitor from Konoha, Orochimaru, who's goal is to obtain the sharingan, and eventually destroy Konoha. Sasuke killed Orochimaru, and then came for me, like I was expecting. Eight months ago, Sasuke and I fought... and I was ready to die for him… but Sasuke used a Mangekyou jutsu to send me here, leaving him guard less against Madara, who will, with no doubt, tell Sasuke everything, even against my wishes" And the hate that bubbled inside Sasuke's eyes, made Itachi shiver inwardly... his little brother became powerful enough to even "kill" him.

"A-and now you're worried that Sasuke will want to get revenge for you... against your village... and that maybe he will join with your what-a-not uncle?" Kagome spoke quietly. Itachi had to leave an empty space of time, void of his voice - or his fingers on her lips - so that she'd comment on what he said. "You want to be there" It wasn't a question this time.

"Yes, yes and yes" Itachi said evenly. A shadow that few on him, darkening his features.

"But... you also don't want to leave what you've known here" And the weasel knew what she wanted to say with "here". But for him, it wasn't exactly the healthy wild life that bloomed in this world - so similar to his own but with much smaller threes - nor the different knowledge he gained, or the friends he made... It was her. "I know how you feel"

"I know" That's why he decided to tell her his life story in the first place.

Kagome fell silent on her own, and Itachi wasn't about to say anything either - so both of them just stood there staring silently at the face of the other – silent tears still running through her face.

A sigh broke the spell. From which of them? not even they knew.

"I know what I will do" the miko started, her voice heavy with emotion. "I-I think I will stay here" She half-sobbed. A dry sound leaving her throat "I don't think I could leave you guys" Itachi lowered his head.

Did he still have a purpose in his world? For sure everyone believed him to be dead. He could start anew here in these lands, begin a family, care for it, or he could protect a village - he could start his own village/clan of shinobi - hell! he could do all of the above... but his home… Sasuke needed him... Kagome's smiling face flashed behind his eyelids... would it really be worth it without the person he owned his life to?

"Then I shall stay here with you" His words were lightly said. His eyes were half-lidded while he stared at the young miko.

"Itachi..." Kagome raised her hands to touch carefully his cheeks. Delicate fingers traced a line on his face, and Itachi found himself leaning against her hands. Sucking up air, Kagome took a step forward, making their bodies closer.

And then she kissed him. Lightly, shyly. Her lips brushed his hesitantly, and then left.

Itachi grabbed her arms when she was about to step back, blushing so much her face was glowing, and flushed her against his chest, he cradled her head and brought their lips together once again, and this time, the kiss was more passionate.

Kagome whimpered at the rough treatment, but melted the second she was in his arms... Inuyasha a fading voice at the back of her head… a voice she was ready to forget.

XxxxXxxxX

Hyaaah! I'll do it! I'll do the alternative ending/sequel thingie... It will be a SURpriise~! huhu~ though, I think a little cliche... but anyway! I'll end this story, and post the ALT ending~ BUT I dunno when I'll be updating, so please no hurry~ \o\


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